9,484 Shares in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) Bought by ZEGA Investments LLC

ZEGA Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 9,484 shares of the pipeline company's stock, valued at approximately $565,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 19.0% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 35,734,666 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $1,631,288,000 after buying an additional 5,697,605 shares during the period. Amundi boosted its holdings in Williams Companies by 28.8% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 8,781,963 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $495,215,000 after acquiring an additional 1,964,421 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in Williams Companies by 3,490.2% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,600,239 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $86,605,000 after purchasing an additional 1,555,667 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI raised its holdings in Williams Companies by 224.1% in the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 1,334,307 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $60,909,000 after purchasing an additional 922,550 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Castle Hook Partners LP lifted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 31.7% in the 3rd quarter. Castle Hook Partners LP now owns 2,989,278 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $136,461,000 after purchasing an additional 718,915 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company's stock.

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Insider Transactions at Williams Companies

In related news, SVP Chad A. Teply sold 26,000 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.46, for a total value of $1,467,960.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 133,048 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,511,890.08. The trade was a 16.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Larry C. Larsen sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.94, for a total value of $455,520.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 81,265 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,627,229.10. This represents a 8.96 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 139,583 shares of company stock worth $7,563,278 over the last three months. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WMB has been the subject of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $58.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday. CIBC raised their target price on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Truist Financial lifted their price target on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $56.07.

Williams Companies Stock Down 1.6 %

Shares of WMB traded down $0.99 on Wednesday, hitting $59.92. 8,935,958 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,193,244. The company has a market capitalization of $73.07 billion, a PE ratio of 32.75, a P/E/G ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 1.03. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a one year low of $37.18 and a one year high of $61.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.50. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $57.25 and a 200 day simple moving average of $54.29.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The pipeline company reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.47. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 15.85% and a net margin of 21.17%. As a group, equities 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. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is an increase from Williams Companies's previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. Williams Companies's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.