Cadent Capital Advisors LLC Grows Position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Cadent Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 3.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 44,026 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after buying an additional 1,264 shares during the quarter. Cadent Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $2,383,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in WMB. Brooklyn Investment Group grew its holdings in Williams Companies by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 7,817 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $357,000 after buying an additional 197 shares in the last quarter. Dearborn Partners LLC grew its stake in Williams Companies by 1.1% during the third quarter. Dearborn Partners LLC now owns 18,111 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $827,000 after acquiring an additional 201 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC increased its holdings in Williams Companies by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 41,514 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,895,000 after acquiring an additional 207 shares during the period. Pinnacle Family Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Williams Companies by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. Pinnacle Family Advisors LLC now owns 6,510 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $297,000 after purchasing an additional 211 shares during the period. Finally, Sunbelt Securities Inc. grew its position in shares of Williams Companies by 12.6% during the 3rd quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 1,899 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $87,000 after purchasing an additional 212 shares in the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Williams Companies

In other news, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 7,951 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.30, for a total value of $447,641.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 25,858 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,455,805.40. The trade was a 23.52 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Williams Companies Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE WMB traded up $0.24 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $55.76. 4,267,052 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,714,618. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a current ratio of 0.57. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12-month low of $32.65 and a 12-month high of $60.36. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $55.77 and a 200 day moving average price of $49.26. The firm has a market cap of $67.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.53, a P/E/G ratio of 5.60 and a beta of 1.06.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.01. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 15.89% and a net margin of 27.36%. The firm had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.52 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.45 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th were paid a $0.475 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.41%. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is 80.17%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Williams Companies from $55.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Barclays lifted their price target on Williams Companies from $46.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Mizuho lifted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. One equities research 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 company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $53.00.

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.