B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 3.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 211,361 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,254 shares during the quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $8,237,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC boosted its stake in Williams Companies by 1.2% during the first quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 22,683 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $884,000 after acquiring an additional 274 shares in the last quarter. Everett Harris & Co. CA boosted its stake in Williams Companies by 1.8% during the first quarter. Everett Harris & Co. CA now owns 15,175 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $591,000 after acquiring an additional 275 shares in the last quarter. Schulhoff & Co. Inc. boosted its stake in Williams Companies by 1.6% during the first quarter. Schulhoff & Co. Inc. now owns 17,883 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $697,000 after acquiring an additional 276 shares in the last quarter. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Williams Companies by 3.3% during the first quarter. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. now owns 8,770 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $342,000 after acquiring an additional 280 shares in the last quarter. Finally, L.M. Kohn & Company boosted its stake in Williams Companies by 4.9% during the first quarter. L.M. Kohn & Company now owns 6,116 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $238,000 after acquiring an additional 288 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Seaport Res Ptn lowered shares of Williams Companies from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $43.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Wolfe Research reissued an “underperform” rating and set a $34.00 price objective on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. Finally, US Capital Advisors cut shares of Williams Companies from an “overweight” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Williams Companies currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $41.77.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Debbie L. Pickle sold 38,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.61, for a total value of $1,513,102.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 60,410 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,392,840.10. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:WMB traded down $0.01 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $42.94. 7,312,075 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,586,031. The company has a current ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62. The business’s fifty day moving average is $42.03 and its two-hundred day moving average is $38.78. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a one year low of $32.49 and a one year high of $45.10. The stock has a market cap of $52.33 billion, a PE ratio of 18.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.75 and a beta of 1.05.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.10. Williams Companies had a net margin of 27.29% and a return on equity of 16.27%. The business had revenue of $2.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.69 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.56 earnings per share. Williams Companies’s quarterly revenue was down 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be paid a $0.475 dividend. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.42%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 79.83%.

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.