Sapient Capital LLC Makes New Investment in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Sapient Capital LLC bought a new stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 10,609 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $370,000.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. increased its stake in Williams Companies by 13.0% in the 3rd quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 15,001 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $505,000 after buying an additional 1,721 shares during the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its stake in Williams Companies by 19.8% in the 3rd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 482,213 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $16,246,000 after purchasing an additional 79,746 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in shares of Williams Companies by 33.9% during the 3rd quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 9,973 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $336,000 after purchasing an additional 2,525 shares during the last quarter. Waldron Private Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 5.0% during the 3rd quarter. Waldron Private Wealth LLC now owns 9,126 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $307,000 after purchasing an additional 432 shares during the period. Finally, Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 348,256 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $12,133,000 after buying an additional 5,722 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Williams Companies stock opened at $39.06 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $47.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.91, a PEG ratio of 6.07 and a beta of 1.05. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a one year low of $28.27 and a one year 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 business has a fifty day moving average price of $37.93 and a 200-day moving average price of $36.03.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $2.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.69 billion. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 16.20% and a net margin of 29.22%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 10.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.56 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.82 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 7th will be given a $0.475 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 7th. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.86%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 72.52%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently issued reports on WMB. Wolfe Research restated an “underperform” rating and set a $34.00 price objective on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Truist Financial raised their price target 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 lifted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $43.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. US Capital Advisors lowered Williams Companies from an “overweight” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 29th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on Williams Companies from $37.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Williams Companies has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus 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.