3Chopt Investment Partners LLC Increases Stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

3Chopt Investment Partners LLC increased its position in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 0.6% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 66,704 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 399 shares during the quarter. Williams Companies comprises approximately 1.1% of 3Chopt Investment Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 28th biggest position. 3Chopt Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $3,045,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brendel Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Williams Companies by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Brendel Financial Advisors LLC now owns 51,927 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $2,370,000 after acquiring an additional 419 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank lifted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 3,617,300 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $165,130,000 after purchasing an additional 9,800 shares during the period. Valley National Advisers Inc. increased its holdings in Williams Companies by 1,855.7% during the third quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 42,029 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,918,000 after buying an additional 39,880 shares during the period. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise increased its holdings in Williams Companies by 402.9% during the third quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise now owns 91,983 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $4,199,000 after buying an additional 73,693 shares during the period. Finally, Edgestream Partners L.P. raised its stake in Williams Companies by 41.5% in the third quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 89,757 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $4,097,000 after buying an additional 26,337 shares in the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Shares of WMB stock opened at $54.67 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $53.94 and a 200 day moving average of $47.03. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $32.65 and a 1 year high of $60.36. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $66.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.84 and a beta of 1.05.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 15.89% and a net margin of 27.36%. The business had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.52 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.45 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a $0.475 dividend. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.48%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 80.17%.

Insider Transactions at Williams Companies

In other news, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 7,951 shares of the company’s 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 sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 25,858 shares in the company, valued at $1,455,805.40. This represents a 23.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.29, for a total value of $90,580.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 304,200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,777,218. This represents a 0.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on WMB. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. CIBC increased their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Bank of America started coverage on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $55.00 price objective on the stock. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $55.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. 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 MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $52.07.

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.