Proficio Capital Partners LLC Buys Shares of 6,035 The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 6,035 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $327,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of WMB. Quent Capital LLC bought a new position in Williams Companies in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Bank of Jackson Hole Trust acquired a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. AlphaMark Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Compass Planning Associates Inc acquired a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, Financial Life Planners bought a new stake in Williams Companies during the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,000. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on WMB. Citigroup increased their price target on Williams Companies from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. CIBC raised their target price on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Truist Financial lifted their target price on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $56.07.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:WMB opened at $60.78 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $57.25 and its two-hundred day moving average is $54.29. The company has a market cap of $74.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 1.03. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12-month low of $37.18 and a 12-month high of $61.67. The company has a quick ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67.

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

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared 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. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.29%. This is a positive change from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is 109.29%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Chad A. Teply sold 26,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 133,048 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,511,890.08. This trade represents a 16.35 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Micheal G. Dunn sold 96,687 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.04, for a total value of $5,128,278.48. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 714,693 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $37,907,316.72. This represents a 11.92 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 139,583 shares of company stock worth $7,563,278. 0.44% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.