Sapient Capital LLC Makes New $370,000 Investment in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

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

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Patten Group Inc. lifted its stake in Williams Companies by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Patten Group Inc. now owns 23,899 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $832,000 after acquiring an additional 296 shares in the last quarter. Insigneo Advisory Services LLC grew its position in Williams Companies by 2.9% in the third quarter. Insigneo Advisory Services LLC now owns 10,476 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $353,000 after purchasing an additional 298 shares in the last quarter. Horan Securities Inc. grew its position in Williams Companies by 2.6% in the third quarter. Horan Securities Inc. now owns 11,753 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $396,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Graypoint LLC increased its stake in Williams Companies by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 12,263 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $427,000 after buying an additional 307 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Valley National Advisers Inc. increased its stake in Williams Companies by 20.8% in the 3rd quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 1,803 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $61,000 after buying an additional 310 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WMB has been the subject of several analyst reports. Barclays raised their price objective on Williams Companies from $37.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. US Capital Advisors downgraded Williams Companies from an “overweight” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 29th. Wolfe Research reissued an “underperform” rating and issued a $34.00 price objective on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 25th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $43.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Williams Companies presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $39.22.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Shares of WMB stock opened at $39.06 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $47.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.91, a PEG ratio of 6.07 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 0.77. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52 week low of $28.27 and a 52 week high of $39.76. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $37.93 and a 200 day simple moving average 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 company had revenue of $2.77 billion during 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 business’s revenue was down 10.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.56 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

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

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.