The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) Shares Bought by B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG

B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG grew its stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 115.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 103,533 shares of the pipeline company's stock after buying an additional 55,558 shares during the quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG's holdings in Williams Companies were worth $5,603,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Williams Companies by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 130,356,165 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $7,054,876,000 after acquiring an additional 1,008,213 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in 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 worth $1,631,288,000 after buying an additional 5,697,605 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Williams Companies by 1.7% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 30,722,702 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $1,398,004,000 after buying an additional 520,663 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Williams Companies in the fourth quarter valued at $575,103,000. Finally, Amundi raised its position in shares of Williams Companies by 28.8% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 8,781,963 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $495,215,000 after acquiring an additional 1,964,421 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently weighed in on WMB. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Williams Companies from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Citigroup upped their target price on Williams Companies from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, CIBC lifted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a "neutral" 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 assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $56.07.

Insider Transactions at Williams Companies

In other news, COO Micheal G. Dunn sold 96,687 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.04, for a total transaction of $5,128,278.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 714,693 shares in the company, valued at approximately $37,907,316.72. This represents a 11.92 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Chad A. Teply sold 26,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.46, for a total transaction of $1,467,960.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 133,048 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,511,890.08. This trade represents a 16.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 139,583 shares of company stock worth $7,563,278 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.44% of the company's stock.

Williams Companies Trading Down 7.5 %

NYSE WMB traded down $4.42 on Friday, reaching $54.61. 18,979,148 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,574,236. 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 business's fifty day moving average price is $57.25 and its 200 day moving average price is $55.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $66.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 0.87. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $37.18 and a fifty-two week high of $61.67.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The pipeline company reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.47. Williams Companies had a net margin of 21.17% and a return on equity of 15.85%. Analysts forecast that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.50 dividend. This is a boost from Williams Companies's previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.66%. Williams Companies's dividend payout ratio is 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.