The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) Shares Purchased by Avestar Capital LLC

Avestar Capital LLC raised its stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 6.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,210 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 306 shares during the period. Avestar Capital LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $238,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WMB. iA Global Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Williams Companies by 454.3% in the first quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 52,947 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $2,063,000 after purchasing an additional 43,395 shares during the last quarter. Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. increased its stake in Williams Companies by 5.3% in the first quarter. Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. now owns 32,416 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,263,000 after purchasing an additional 1,646 shares during the last quarter. Burney Co. increased its stake in Williams Companies by 3.0% in the first quarter. Burney Co. now owns 50,083 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,952,000 after purchasing an additional 1,437 shares during the last quarter. Invst LLC purchased a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the first quarter worth approximately $884,000. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers grew its position in shares of Williams Companies by 180.6% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 638,120 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $24,868,000 after acquiring an additional 410,705 shares during the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WMB has been the topic of a number of research reports. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada raised 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 Wednesday, October 16th. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $42.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Williams Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $51.79.

Williams Companies Trading Down 0.4 %

NYSE:WMB opened at $58.14 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $52.12 and a 200-day simple moving average of $46.08. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52-week low of $32.65 and a 52-week high of $60.36. The company has a market capitalization of $70.87 billion, a PE ratio of 24.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.01 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a quick ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 0.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.52 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.45 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a $0.475 dividend. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.27%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 80.17%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams Companies

In other news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.29, for a total transaction of $90,580.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 304,200 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,777,218. The trade was a 0.65 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 7,951 shares of the business’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 of the company’s stock, valued at $1,455,805.40. The trade was a 23.52 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.44% of the stock is owned by company 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.