Wealth Alliance Sells 7,409 Shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Wealth Alliance trimmed its holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 22.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 24,948 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 7,409 shares during the quarter. Wealth Alliance’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $1,350,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Quent Capital LLC bought a new stake in Williams Companies during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Bank of Jackson Hole Trust bought a new stake in Williams Companies during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. AlphaMark Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Williams Companies during the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new stake in Williams Companies during the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, Financial Life Planners bought a new stake in Williams Companies during the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WMB has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. 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 report on Friday, February 14th. Scotiabank restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $51.00 price objective on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Friday, January 10th. 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 report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $46.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Williams Companies presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $53.29.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Shares of WMB stock opened at $58.25 on Thursday. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a one year low of $33.85 and a one year high of $61.46. The company’s 50-day moving average is $56.02 and its 200 day moving average is $52.03. The company has a market capitalization of $71.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.10 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.50.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The pipeline company reported $0.47 EPS 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%. Sell-side analysts expect that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 EPS 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. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.43%. This is an increase from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is 103.83%.

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.