Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC Grows Position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC raised its stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 31.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 120,517 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after acquiring an additional 29,138 shares during the quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $6,522,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in WMB. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised its stake 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 last quarter. Albion Financial Group UT grew its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 18.4% during the fourth quarter. Albion Financial Group UT now owns 1,184 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $64,000 after buying an additional 184 shares in the last quarter. Sprinkle Financial Consultants LLC raised its position in shares of Williams Companies by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Sprinkle Financial Consultants LLC now owns 5,073 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $275,000 after buying an additional 185 shares during the last quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 24.4% during the fourth quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 995 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $54,000 after buying an additional 195 shares during the period. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group boosted its position in Williams Companies by 2.6% during the third quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 7,817 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $357,000 after acquiring an additional 197 shares during the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on WMB. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Williams Companies from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday. Citigroup upped their target price on Williams Companies from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Truist Financial raised their price target on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $46.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $54.93.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

NYSE:WMB opened at $56.31 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $56.68 and its 200 day simple moving average is $53.00. 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 Williams Companies, Inc. has a twelve month low of $35.74 and a twelve month high of $61.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $68.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.77, a PEG ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 1.03.

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

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.50 dividend. This is an increase from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.55%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 109.29%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Chad A. Teply sold 26,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.46, for a total transaction of $1,467,960.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 133,048 shares in the company, valued at $7,511,890.08. This trade represents a 16.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 8,896 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.50, for a total value of $511,520.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 22,339 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,284,492.50. The trade was a 28.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

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.