Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. Has $3.42 Million Position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. grew its holdings in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 1,007.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 98,284 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after buying an additional 89,406 shares during the quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc.’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $3,423,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Morgan Stanley lifted its position in Williams Companies by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 19,086,234 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $643,015,000 after buying an additional 712,048 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 8.1% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 14,455,063 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $486,991,000 after purchasing an additional 1,089,150 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 7.3% in the 3rd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 13,628,627 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $459,148,000 after purchasing an additional 921,537 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 11,301,527 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $380,748,000 after purchasing an additional 68,674 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 35.1% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 9,553,779 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $321,867,000 after purchasing an additional 2,482,331 shares during the period. 86.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 25th. Wolfe Research reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and issued a $34.00 target price on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Thursday, April 18th. UBS Group upped their target price 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. US Capital Advisors lowered shares of Williams Companies from an “overweight” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $37.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $39.22.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WMB traded up $0.13 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $38.67. 4,420,828 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,587,367. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 0.77. The company has a market cap of $47.12 billion, a PE ratio of 14.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.05 and a beta of 1.05. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $37.77 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $35.98. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1-year low of $28.27 and a 1-year high of $39.76.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 14th. The pipeline company reported $0.48 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.01. Williams Companies had a net margin of 29.22% and a return on equity of 16.20%. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.53 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.82 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.475 per share. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.91%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 7th. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is currently 72.52%.

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.