Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. Increases Stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. boosted its holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 52.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 34,009 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after acquiring an additional 11,745 shares during the quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $1,553,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of WMB. Dearborn Partners LLC raised its stake in Williams Companies by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Dearborn Partners LLC now owns 18,111 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $827,000 after buying an additional 201 shares during the last quarter. L & S Advisors Inc lifted its holdings in Williams Companies by 0.3% in the third quarter. L & S Advisors Inc now owns 78,548 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $3,586,000 after acquiring an additional 232 shares during the period. CVA Family Office LLC lifted its holdings in Williams Companies by 18.7% in the third quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 1,578 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $72,000 after acquiring an additional 249 shares during the period. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton boosted its position in Williams Companies by 50.4% in the third quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 752 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 252 shares during the last quarter. Finally, J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 2.8% during the 2nd quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 9,298 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $395,000 after purchasing an additional 257 shares during the period. 86.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Williams Companies

In other Williams Companies news, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 7,951 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.30, for a total value of $447,641.30. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 25,858 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,455,805.40. This represents a 23.52 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of Williams Companies 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 304,200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,777,218. This trade 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 insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of Williams Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Bank of America started coverage on Williams Companies in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $55.00 price target for the company. 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. Seaport Res Ptn lowered shares of Williams Companies from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $51.54.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Shares of Williams Companies stock opened at $58.18 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12 month low of $32.65 and a 12 month high of $60.36. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $51.60 and a 200 day moving average of $45.86. The firm has a market cap of $70.92 billion, a PE ratio of 24.55, a PEG ratio of 6.14 and a beta of 1.03.

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

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a dividend of $0.475 per share. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is 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.