Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. Has $1.94 Million Stake in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Key Points

• Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. increased its stake in Williams Companies, Inc. by 57.1% during the second quarter, owning a total of 30,859 shares valued at approximately $1.94 million.
• Analysts have varied opinions on the stock, with Morgan Stanley raising their price target to $83.00, while Wall Street Zen issued a downgrade to a "sell" rating.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.50, representing an annualized dividend of $2.00, with a yield of 3.2%.

Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. boosted its stake in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 57.1% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 30,859 shares of the pipeline company's stock after purchasing an additional 11,214 shares during the period. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD.'s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $1,938,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Flaharty Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Williams Companies in the first quarter valued at $25,000. HWG Holdings LP acquired a new stake in Williams Companies in the first quarter valued at $26,000. Saudi Central Bank acquired a new stake in Williams Companies in the first quarter valued at $29,000. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Williams Companies by 4,490.9% in the first quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC now owns 505 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 494 shares during the period. Finally, Abound Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Williams Companies in the first quarter valued at $32,000. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Williams Companies from $70.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, October 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Williams Companies from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, August 8th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Williams Companies from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Saturday, October 4th. BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on Williams Companies in a report on Friday, September 19th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $66.00 price target for the company. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on Williams Companies from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $66.73.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Shares of WMB opened at $63.10 on Tuesday. 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 stock has a 50-day moving average of $60.05 and a 200-day moving average of $59.22. The company has a market cap of $76.94 billion, a PE ratio of 31.71, a P/E/G ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 0.65. Williams Companies, Inc. has a one year low of $51.46 and a one year high of $65.55.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Monday, August 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.46 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.49 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $2.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.90 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 21.63% and a return on equity of 16.23%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 19.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.43 earnings per share. Williams Companies has set its FY 2025 guidance at 2.010-2.190 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 12th were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 12th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.2%. Williams Companies's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 100.50%.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Larry C. Larsen sold 4,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.47, for a total value of $263,115.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 77,612 shares in the company, valued at $4,537,973.64. This trade represents a 5.48% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.62, for a total value of $115,240.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 311,645 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $17,956,984.90. This represents a 0.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 8,500 shares of company stock valued at $497,715. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.

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