Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV Raises Holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV grew its position in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 44.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 973 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after buying an additional 301 shares during the period. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $53,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Quent Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Williams Companies during the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Bank of Jackson Hole Trust purchased a new stake in Williams Companies during the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. AlphaMark Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Williams Companies during the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in Williams Companies during the 3rd quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, Financial Life Planners purchased a new stake in Williams Companies during the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WMB has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Truist Financial increased their price objective on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Scotiabank raised their price target on Williams Companies from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Williams Companies from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. CIBC lifted their price target on 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 raised their price objective on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $55.21.

Williams Companies Trading Down 0.3 %

Williams Companies stock opened at $59.60 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $57.09 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $53.93. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12 month low of $37.18 and a 12 month high of $61.46. The company has a market capitalization of $72.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 1.03.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The pipeline company reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.47. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 15.85% and a net margin of 21.17%. As a group, equities analysts predict that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.36%. This is an increase from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is 109.29%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Micheal G. Dunn sold 96,687 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.04, for a total transaction of $5,128,278.48. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 714,693 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $37,907,316.72. This represents a 11.92 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Larry C. Larsen sold 8,000 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 81,265 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,627,229.10. The trade was a 8.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 139,583 shares of company stock valued at $7,563,278. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Williams Companies Company 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.