Wealthspire Advisors LLC Cuts Stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Wealthspire Advisors LLC trimmed its stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 7.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 32,943 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 2,783 shares during the quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $1,783,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of WMB. Board of the Pension Protection Fund purchased a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the 4th quarter worth $720,000. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in Williams Companies by 13.8% during the fourth quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 162,799 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $8,811,000 after acquiring an additional 19,782 shares during the last quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 81.4% in the 4th quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC now owns 185,920 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $10,062,000 after purchasing an additional 83,429 shares during the period. Golden State Equity Partners lifted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 319.9% in the 4th quarter. Golden State Equity Partners now owns 12,038 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $651,000 after purchasing an additional 9,171 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Myriad Asset Management US LP purchased a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the 4th quarter worth about $995,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on WMB. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. UBS Group increased their price target on Williams Companies from $55.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Scotiabank restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $51.00 price objective on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Barclays increased their target price on Williams Companies from $46.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Williams Companies presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $53.29.

Williams Companies Stock Down 0.3 %

NYSE:WMB opened at $57.28 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $69.82 billion, a PE ratio of 31.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 1.05. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $56.21 and a 200-day moving average of $52.41. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52 week low of $34.54 and a 52 week high of $61.46. The company has a current ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The pipeline company reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.47. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 15.85% and a net margin of 21.17%. Analysts predict that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 EPS 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 paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.49%. This is a positive change from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is presently 109.29%.

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.