Cowa LLC Has $375,000 Position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Cowa LLC raised its stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 38.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 6,920 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,905 shares during the period. Cowa LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $375,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Sigma Planning Corp grew its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 9.7% in the fourth quarter. Sigma Planning Corp now owns 31,733 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,717,000 after acquiring an additional 2,811 shares in the last quarter. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC now owns 13,772 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $745,000 after acquiring an additional 435 shares in the last quarter. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT grew its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT now owns 10,331 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $559,000 after acquiring an additional 285 shares in the last quarter. Compass Planning Associates Inc acquired a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, ING Groep NV grew its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 266.6% in the fourth quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 155,694 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $8,426,000 after acquiring an additional 113,227 shares in the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WMB has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Scotiabank reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $51.00 price objective on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $55.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $53.29.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Williams Companies stock opened at $57.44 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $56.15 and a 200-day moving average of $52.18. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $34.26 and a 1 year high of $61.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 0.50 and a quick ratio of 0.45. The company has a market capitalization of $70.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.39, a P/E/G ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 1.04.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The pipeline company reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47. Williams Companies had a net margin of 21.17% and a return on equity of 15.85%. On average, equities research analysts predict that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is an increase from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 103.83%.

About Williams Companies

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.