Forvis Mazars Wealth Advisors LLC Lowers Holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Forvis Mazars Wealth Advisors LLC reduced its position in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 4.9% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 4,464 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 228 shares during the period. Forvis Mazars Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $242,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Howard Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. now owns 12,652 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $685,000 after acquiring an additional 331 shares in the last quarter. WESPAC Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the 4th quarter worth about $857,000. TCW Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. TCW Group Inc. now owns 17,052 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $923,000 after acquiring an additional 427 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Funds Management LTD purchased a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the 4th quarter worth about $18,036,000. Finally, Cowa LLC boosted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 38.0% during the 4th quarter. Cowa LLC now owns 6,920 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $375,000 after acquiring an additional 1,905 shares in the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on WMB. Scotiabank reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $51.00 target price on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Friday, January 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $55.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $53.29.

Williams Companies Stock Down 0.3 %

WMB stock opened at $57.28 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $69.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.30, a PEG ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a current ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12 month low of $34.54 and a 12 month high of $61.46. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $56.21 and a two-hundred day moving average of $52.41.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The pipeline company reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47. Williams Companies had a net margin of 21.17% and a return on equity of 15.85%. As a group, analysts forecast 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.50 dividend. This is a positive change from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.49%. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is presently 109.29%.

About Williams Companies

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.