Skylands Capital LLC Sells 12,925 Shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Skylands Capital LLC cut its stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 8.3% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 143,225 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 12,925 shares during the period. Williams Companies makes up approximately 1.1% of Skylands Capital LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 25th largest holding. Skylands Capital LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $7,751,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted its holdings in Williams Companies by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft now owns 5,568 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $300,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares during the period. Albion Financial Group UT boosted its holdings in Williams Companies by 18.4% in the 4th quarter. Albion Financial Group UT now owns 1,184 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $64,000 after purchasing an additional 184 shares during the period. Sprinkle Financial Consultants LLC boosted its holdings in Williams Companies by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Sprinkle Financial Consultants LLC now owns 5,073 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $275,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares during the period. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Williams Companies by 24.4% in the 4th quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 995 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $54,000 after purchasing an additional 195 shares during the period. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group boosted its holdings in Williams Companies by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 7,817 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $357,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares during the period. 86.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WMB has been the subject of a number of research reports. Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $55.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Scotiabank reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $51.00 price objective on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. One 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 data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $53.29.

Williams Companies Trading Down 1.7 %

WMB opened at $57.44 on Monday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $70.01 billion, a PE ratio of 31.39, a PEG ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 1.04. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1-year low of $34.26 and a 1-year high of $61.46. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $56.15 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $52.31.

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

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 103.83%.

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.