Dudley Capital Management LLC Buys 6,805 Shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Dudley Capital Management LLC grew its stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 19.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 41,775 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after buying an additional 6,805 shares during the period. Williams Companies makes up about 1.1% of Dudley Capital Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 24th biggest holding. Dudley Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $2,261,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in WMB. Board of the Pension Protection Fund purchased a new stake in Williams Companies in the fourth quarter worth approximately $720,000. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 13.8% in the 4th quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 162,799 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $8,811,000 after purchasing an additional 19,782 shares in the last quarter. Golden State Equity Partners grew its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 319.9% during the 4th quarter. Golden State Equity Partners now owns 12,038 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $651,000 after purchasing an additional 9,171 shares during the last quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC raised its position in Williams Companies by 81.4% in the 4th quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC now owns 185,920 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $10,062,000 after purchasing an additional 83,429 shares during the period. Finally, Myriad Asset Management US LP purchased a new position in Williams Companies in the 4th quarter worth $995,000. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Larry C. Larsen sold 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.94, for a total transaction of $455,520.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 81,265 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,627,229.10. This represents a 8.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Chad A. Teply sold 26,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.46, for a total transaction of $1,467,960.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 133,048 shares in the company, valued at $7,511,890.08. The trade was a 16.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 139,583 shares of company stock worth $7,563,278 in the last three months. 0.44% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WMB has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. CIBC raised their price objective on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Citigroup raised their price target on Williams Companies from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $55.21.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Williams Companies stock opened at $61.14 on Tuesday. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $37.18 and a fifty-two week high of $61.55. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $57.20 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $54.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.50. The stock has a market cap of $74.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.41, a PEG ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 1.03.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The pipeline company reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 15.85% and a net margin of 21.17%. As a group, analysts expect that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is an increase from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.27%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 109.29%.

About Williams Companies

The Williams Companies, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an energy infrastructure company primarily in the United States. It operates through Transmission & Gulf of Mexico, Northeast G&P, West, and Gas & NGL Marketing Services segments. The Transmission & Gulf of Mexico segment comprises natural gas pipelines; Transco, Northwest pipeline, MountainWest, and related natural gas storage facilities; and natural gas gathering and processing, and crude oil production handling and transportation assets in the Gulf Coast region.