Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB Shares Purchased by Avantax Advisory Services Inc.

Avantax Advisory Services Inc. increased its stake in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 8.0% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 83,512 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,154 shares during the period. Avantax Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $5,245,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Williams Companies during the 1st quarter worth about $335,419,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in Williams Companies by 45.0% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 11,339,078 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $677,623,000 after acquiring an additional 3,519,370 shares in the last quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. increased its stake in Williams Companies by 34.0% during the first quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 11,287,921 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $674,566,000 after purchasing an additional 2,861,988 shares during the period. Voya Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 275.7% during the first quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 2,609,318 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $155,933,000 after purchasing an additional 1,914,730 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 6.0% in the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 29,624,104 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,770,336,000 after purchasing an additional 1,680,477 shares during the period. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently weighed in on WMB. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $59.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Cibc World Mkts upgraded shares of Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 15th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Williams Companies from $70.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. Zacks Research lowered Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Friday, October 17th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Williams Companies from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $68.21.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.53, for a total value of $242,120.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 302,645 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,319,101.85. The trade was a 1.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Williams Companies Trading Down 1.2%

NYSE WMB opened at $59.17 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $60.76 and its 200 day moving average price is $59.45. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12 month low of $51.58 and a 12 month high of $65.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73, a current ratio of 0.54 and a quick ratio of 0.48. The company has a market capitalization of $72.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 0.64.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 3rd. The pipeline company reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.51 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $2.92 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.87 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 21.63% and a return on equity of 16.23%. The business’s revenue was up 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.43 EPS. Williams Companies has set its FY 2025 guidance at 2.010-2.190 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 29th. Investors of record on Friday, December 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 12th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 103.09%.

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.