Allworth Financial LP Has $2.34 Million Position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Allworth Financial LP raised its stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 76.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 39,593 shares of the pipeline company's stock after acquiring an additional 17,125 shares during the quarter. Allworth Financial LP's holdings in Williams Companies were worth $2,344,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WMB. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft now owns 5,568 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $300,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares in the last quarter. Albion Financial Group UT lifted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 18.4% in the fourth quarter. Albion Financial Group UT now owns 1,184 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $64,000 after purchasing an additional 184 shares in the last quarter. Sprinkle Financial Consultants LLC lifted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Sprinkle Financial Consultants LLC now owns 5,073 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $275,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares in the last quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 24.4% in the fourth quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 995 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $54,000 after purchasing an additional 195 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group lifted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 2.6% in the third quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 7,817 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $357,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on WMB. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Barclays boosted their target price 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 boosted their target price 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. Scotiabank restated a "sector perform" rating and set a $51.00 target price on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $55.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Williams Companies currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $53.29.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Shares of WMB stock traded down $1.02 on Friday, hitting $57.44. The company's stock had a trading volume of 11,081,263 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,709,167. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.50. The stock's 50 day moving average is $56.09 and its 200-day moving average is $52.07. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $34.26 and a fifty-two week high of $61.46. The company has a market capitalization of $70.01 billion, a PE ratio of 31.39, a PEG ratio of 5.00 and a beta of 1.04.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results 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%. Equities research analysts expect that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from Williams Companies's previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.48%. Williams Companies's payout ratio is presently 109.29%.

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.