Millstone Evans Group LLC Invests $36,000 in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Millstone Evans Group LLC acquired a new stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 659 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $36,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WMB. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft grew its holdings in Williams Companies by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft now owns 5,568 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $300,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares during the period. Albion Financial Group UT increased 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 valued at $64,000 after buying an additional 184 shares in the last quarter. Sprinkle Financial Consultants LLC raised its stake in Williams Companies by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. Sprinkle Financial Consultants LLC now owns 5,073 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $275,000 after buying an additional 185 shares during the period. AMG National Trust Bank lifted its holdings in Williams Companies by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. AMG National Trust Bank now owns 30,813 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,669,000 after acquiring an additional 186 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tower Wealth Partners Inc. grew its stake in Williams Companies by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Tower Wealth Partners Inc. now owns 4,591 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $248,000 after acquiring an additional 191 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on WMB shares. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Williams Companies from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. CIBC boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $55.21.

Williams Companies Trading Up 2.6 %

Shares of Williams Companies stock opened at $61.14 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $74.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.41, a P/E/G ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a quick ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12-month low of $37.18 and a 12-month high of $61.55. The business’s 50 day moving average is $57.20 and its 200-day moving average is $54.17.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The pipeline company reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.47. Williams Companies had a net margin of 21.17% and a return on equity of 15.85%. Equities research analysts predict 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.27%. This is a boost from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 109.29%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Chad A. Teply sold 26,000 shares of Williams Companies 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 directly owns 133,048 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,511,890.08. The trade was a 16.35 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Larry C. Larsen sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.94, for a total value of $455,520.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 81,265 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,627,229.10. This trade represents a 8.96 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 139,583 shares of company stock valued at $7,563,278 over the last 90 days. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by 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.