Mayflower Financial Advisors LLC Buys New Holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Mayflower Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor purchased 4,272 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $231,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Albion Financial Group UT grew its position in shares of Williams Companies by 18.4% in the 4th quarter. Albion Financial Group UT now owns 1,184 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $64,000 after buying an additional 184 shares during the period. Brooklyn Investment Group lifted its position 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 acquiring an additional 197 shares during the period. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Williams Companies by 10.1% during the fourth quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,178 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $118,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Dearborn Partners LLC grew its holdings in Williams Companies by 1.1% in the third quarter. Dearborn Partners LLC now owns 18,111 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $827,000 after purchasing an additional 201 shares during the period. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 0.5% during the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 41,514 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,895,000 after purchasing an additional 207 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Williams Companies

In other news, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 7,951 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.30, for a total transaction of $447,641.30. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 25,858 shares in the company, valued at $1,455,805.40. This trade represents a 23.52 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WMB has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Truist Financial boosted their price target on Williams Companies from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. UBS Group increased their target price on Williams Companies from $55.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Citigroup lifted their price target on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised shares of Williams Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $52.00 to $58.00 in a report on Friday, October 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Williams Companies currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $53.00.

Williams Companies Price Performance

NYSE WMB opened at $55.37 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $67.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.36, a PEG ratio of 5.31 and a beta of 1.06. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1-year low of $32.65 and a 1-year high of $61.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 0.57 and a quick ratio of 0.51. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $56.34 and its 200-day moving average price is $50.58.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.52 billion. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 15.89% and a net margin of 27.36%. Williams Companies’s revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.45 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. This is an increase from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.61%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 80.17%.

Williams Companies Profile

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.