Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. Increases Stock Position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. increased its holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 16.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 59,229 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after buying an additional 8,559 shares during the period. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc.’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $3,206,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of WMB. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 19.0% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 35,734,666 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,631,288,000 after acquiring an additional 5,697,605 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in Williams Companies by 3,490.2% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,600,239 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $86,605,000 after purchasing an additional 1,555,667 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its stake in Williams Companies by 224.1% in the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 1,334,307 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $60,909,000 after purchasing an additional 922,550 shares during the period. Castle Hook Partners LP grew its holdings in Williams Companies by 31.7% during the 3rd quarter. Castle Hook Partners LP now owns 2,989,278 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $136,461,000 after buying an additional 718,915 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Williams Companies by 1.7% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 30,722,702 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,398,004,000 after buying an additional 520,663 shares during the period. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WMB has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $55.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Barclays upped their price target 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. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Truist Financial upped their target price on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Scotiabank reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $51.00 price objective on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Friday, January 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $53.29.

Williams Companies Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE:WMB opened at $58.46 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $71.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.10 and a beta of 1.04. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $56.09 and its 200-day moving average price is $52.07. 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 12-month low of $34.13 and a 12-month high of $61.46.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This is a positive change from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 103.83%.

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.