Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC Grows Stock Holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 124.2% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 37,084 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after buying an additional 20,542 shares during the period. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $1,693,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. grew its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 1.2% in the second quarter. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. now owns 12,670,175 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $538,482,000 after acquiring an additional 144,713 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in Williams Companies by 3.3% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,648,918 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $410,064,000 after purchasing an additional 311,530 shares during the last quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. grew its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 8.8% during the 2nd quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 7,664,152 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $325,726,000 after purchasing an additional 618,056 shares during the period. Blackstone Inc. increased its position in shares of Williams Companies by 109.1% during the 1st quarter. Blackstone Inc. now owns 6,466,660 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $252,006,000 after purchasing an additional 3,373,800 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 20.1% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 6,117,298 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $259,985,000 after purchasing an additional 1,024,158 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams Companies

In other news, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 7,951 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.30, for a total transaction of $447,641.30. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 25,858 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,455,805.40. The trade was a 23.52 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.29, for a total value of $90,580.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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. 0.44% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WMB has been the subject of a number of research reports. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Williams Companies from $55.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Bank of America started coverage on Williams Companies in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $55.00 target price on the stock. CIBC upped their price target on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Williams Companies from $42.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Williams Companies currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $51.54.

Williams Companies Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of WMB stock opened at $58.60 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $50.48 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $45.31. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52 week low of $32.65 and a 52 week high of $58.69. The stock has a market cap of $71.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.73, a PEG ratio of 5.96 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 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 return on equity of 15.89% and a net margin of 27.36%. The company had revenue of $2.65 billion during 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 firm’s revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a $0.475 dividend. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 80.17%.

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.