United Asset Strategies Inc. Sells 2,346 Shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

United Asset Strategies Inc. trimmed its position in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 2.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 78,898 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 2,346 shares during the period. United Asset Strategies Inc.’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $2,748,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in Williams Companies by 96,588.4% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 63,423,739 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $2,086,641,000 after acquiring an additional 63,358,143 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 19,750,630 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $649,796,000 after purchasing an additional 136,216 shares during the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada raised its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 85.8% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 16,352,215 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $546,327,000 after buying an additional 7,551,749 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 8.1% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 14,455,063 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $486,991,000 after buying an additional 1,089,150 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. boosted 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 valued at $459,148,000 after buying an additional 921,537 shares in the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Williams Companies Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of WMB stock traded down $0.31 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $37.53. 2,532,570 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,044,583. The stock has a market cap of $45.73 billion, a PE ratio of 14.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.05 and a beta of 1.04. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $36.65 and its 200 day simple moving average is $35.59. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12 month low of $28.27 and a 12 month high of $39.76.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The pipeline company reported $0.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.01. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 16.20% and a net margin of 29.22%. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.53 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.8 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a $0.475 dividend. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.06%. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is presently 72.52%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have commented on WMB. UBS Group boosted their target price on Williams Companies from $43.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 25th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $37.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $39.00.

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.