CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. Decreases Holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. decreased its position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 58.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,293 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 3,203 shares during the quarter. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd.’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $124,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Board of the Pension Protection Fund purchased a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the 4th quarter valued at $720,000. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position 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 valued at $8,811,000 after buying an additional 19,782 shares during the period. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC boosted its position in Williams Companies by 81.4% during the fourth quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC now owns 185,920 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $10,062,000 after buying an additional 83,429 shares during the period. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 17.0% during the fourth quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 75,278 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $4,074,000 after buying an additional 10,950 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brendel Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 0.8% in the third quarter. Brendel Financial Advisors LLC now owns 51,927 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $2,370,000 after buying an additional 419 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WMB has been the topic of several recent research reports. CIBC raised their price target on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Scotiabank reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $51.00 price target on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Friday, January 10th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, UBS Group upped 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $53.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams Companies

In other Williams Companies news, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 7,951 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.30, for a total value of $447,641.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 25,858 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,455,805.40. The trade was a 23.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.44% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Williams Companies Price Performance

WMB opened at $55.73 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $56.08 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $50.95. The company has a market cap of $67.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 1.05. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12-month low of $32.65 and a 12-month high of $61.46.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.01. Williams Companies had a net margin of 27.36% and a return on equity of 15.89%. The business had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.52 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.45 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The business 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 80.17%.

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.