Allworth Financial LP Purchases 17,125 Shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Allworth Financial LP boosted its position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 76.2% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 39,593 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after buying an additional 17,125 shares during the quarter. Allworth Financial LP’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $2,344,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in WMB. Creative Planning boosted its stake in Williams Companies by 9.9% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 199,046 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $9,086,000 after acquiring an additional 17,983 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 6.7% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 13,159 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $559,000 after buying an additional 830 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its position in Williams Companies by 132.3% during the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 146,247 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $6,676,000 after buying an additional 83,300 shares in the last quarter. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC purchased a new position in Williams Companies during the third quarter valued at $52,000. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. boosted its holdings in Williams Companies by 3.5% in the third quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 8,061 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $368,000 after acquiring an additional 275 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on WMB shares. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $55.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Barclays upped their price objective on Williams Companies from $46.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Scotiabank reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $51.00 target price on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Friday, January 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Williams Companies has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $53.29.

Williams Companies Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of WMB stock opened at $57.78 on Wednesday. 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 $33.85 and a 12 month high of $61.46. The stock has a market cap of $70.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.38, a P/E/G ratio of 5.06 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $55.90 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $51.87.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The pipeline company reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.47. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 15.89% and a net margin of 27.36%. On average, research analysts expect that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This is a boost from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.46%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is presently 80.17%.

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.