Apella Capital LLC Buys New Position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Apella Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 4,045 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $219,000.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI increased its stake in Williams Companies by 78.7% in the 2nd quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 12,994 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $552,000 after purchasing an additional 5,721 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its position in shares of Williams Companies by 5.8% in the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,016,985 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $43,222,000 after acquiring an additional 56,000 shares in the last quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 0.6% during the second quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC now owns 263,620 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $11,204,000 after acquiring an additional 1,468 shares during the period. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT lifted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 7.7% in the 2nd quarter. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT now owns 9,789 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $416,000 after acquiring an additional 700 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co boosted its stake in Williams Companies by 8.3% in the 2nd quarter. Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co now owns 25,120 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,068,000 after purchasing an additional 1,920 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related 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 directly owns 25,858 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,455,805.40. The trade was a 23.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on WMB shares. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Scotiabank reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $51.00 price objective on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Citigroup lifted their target price on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Williams Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $52.00 to $58.00 in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Finally, Bank of America began coverage on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $55.00 price objective on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $53.00.

Williams Companies Stock Up 1.9 %

Shares of NYSE WMB opened at $59.13 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $56.00 and a two-hundred day moving average of $49.52. 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 52-week low of $32.65 and a 52-week high of $60.36. The stock has a market cap of $72.08 billion, a PE ratio of 24.95, a PEG ratio of 5.36 and a beta of 1.06.

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

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th were given a $0.475 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.21%. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is 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.