Lake Street Advisors Group LLC Grows Stock Holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Lake Street Advisors Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 198.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 105,083 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 69,912 shares during the period. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $5,687,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Williams Companies by 494.7% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 394,161 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $17,993,000 after buying an additional 327,877 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 36.4% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 44,572 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $2,035,000 after acquiring an additional 11,887 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 25.5% in the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 89,021 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $4,020,000 after purchasing an additional 18,102 shares during the period. Arkadios Wealth Advisors increased its position in Williams Companies by 228.2% during the third quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 20,003 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $913,000 after purchasing an additional 13,909 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in Williams Companies by 11.2% during the third quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 220,101 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $10,048,000 after purchasing an additional 22,160 shares during the period. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WMB has been the subject of several analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Barclays upped their price objective on Williams Companies from $46.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. Truist Financial raised their target price on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Mizuho upped their price target on Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on Williams Companies from $55.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $54.21.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Shares of WMB opened at $56.13 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $68.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.67, a PEG ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 1.05. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $34.54 and a fifty-two week high of $61.46. The company has a quick ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $56.26 and its 200 day moving average price is $52.50.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The pipeline company reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 15.85% and a net margin of 21.17%. On average, research analysts forecast that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.56%. This is a positive change from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.