B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. cut its holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 3.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 205,107 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 6,254 shares during the quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $7,144,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of WMB. Morgan Stanley increased its position in Williams Companies by 3.9% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 19,086,234 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $643,015,000 after acquiring an additional 712,048 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in Williams Companies by 8.1% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 14,455,063 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $486,991,000 after purchasing an additional 1,089,150 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its stake in Williams Companies by 7.3% in the third quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 13,628,627 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $459,148,000 after purchasing an additional 921,537 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 21.3% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 11,593,482 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $403,801,000 after buying an additional 2,039,703 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the fourth quarter worth approximately $306,417,000. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Debbie L. Pickle sold 38,200 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.61, for a total value of $1,513,102.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 60,410 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,392,840.10. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have commented on the company. Wolfe Research reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and issued a $34.00 price objective on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Truist Financial increased their price objective on Williams Companies from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 25th. Barclays increased their price target on Williams Companies from $37.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Williams Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $38.00 to $46.00 in a research report on Tuesday, June 4th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $41.25.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:WMB opened at $41.26 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a twelve month low of $30.24 and a twelve month high of $41.89. The company’s 50 day moving average is $39.86 and its 200 day moving average is $37.17. The company has a market cap of $50.29 billion, a PE ratio of 17.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.46 and a beta of 1.05.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its earnings results on Monday, May 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $2.77 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.69 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 27.29% and a return on equity of 16.27%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 10.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.56 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.85 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.475 per share. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 7th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 79.83%.

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.