Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC Grows Stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 12.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 24,392 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,605 shares during the quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $850,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WMB. RWA Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the fourth quarter valued at about $575,000. Sage Mountain Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the fourth quarter worth $256,000. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 69.2% during the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 4,105,754 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $143,003,000 after buying an additional 1,679,452 shares during the period. Telemus Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Telemus Capital LLC now owns 182,593 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $6,360,000 after purchasing an additional 6,686 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Duality Advisers LP purchased a new stake in Williams Companies in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $6,636,000. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Shares of WMB stock opened at $39.45 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $37.35 and its two-hundred day moving average is $35.85. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12 month low of $28.27 and a 12 month high of $39.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.73. The company has a market capitalization of $48.07 billion, a PE ratio of 15.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.14 and a beta of 1.05.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The pipeline company reported $0.48 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.01. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 16.20% and a net margin of 29.22%. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.53 EPS. Analysts predict that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.83 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a $0.475 dividend. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.82%. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is presently 72.52%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WMB has been the topic of a number of research reports. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 25th. UBS Group raised their target price on Williams Companies from $43.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Barclays upped their price objective on Williams Companies from $37.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Wolfe Research reissued an “underperform” rating and set a $34.00 price target on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Thursday, April 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $39.22.

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.