The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) Shares Purchased by Bank of Nova Scotia

Bank of Nova Scotia lifted its stake in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 22.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,613,284 shares of the pipeline company's stock after acquiring an additional 477,309 shares during the quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia owned approximately 0.21% of Williams Companies worth $141,431,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 130,356,165 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $7,054,876,000 after purchasing an additional 1,008,213 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Williams Companies by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 31,263,235 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $1,687,797,000 after buying an additional 540,533 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Williams Companies during the fourth quarter valued at about $575,103,000. Amundi lifted 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 valued at $495,215,000 after acquiring an additional 1,964,421 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bahl & Gaynor Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 8,425,933 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $456,012,000 after acquiring an additional 234,423 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company's stock.

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Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Micheal G. Dunn sold 96,687 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.04, for a total value of $5,128,278.48. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 714,693 shares of the company's stock, valued at $37,907,316.72. The trade was a 11.92 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Chad A. Teply sold 26,000 shares of the company's 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 133,048 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,511,890.08. The trade was a 16.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 139,583 shares of company stock valued at $7,563,278 over the last three months. 0.44% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Williams Companies Trading Up 2.1 %

WMB stock traded up $1.17 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $56.24. The company's stock had a trading volume of 7,477,342 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,661,726. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $57.22 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $55.50. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $68.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.73, a PEG ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 0.87. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $37.18 and a 1 year 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 (EPS) for the quarter, meeting 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, equities research analysts predict that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $0.50 dividend. This is an increase from Williams Companies's previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.56%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Williams Companies's payout ratio is presently 109.29%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on WMB. Scotiabank lifted their target price on Williams Companies from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $58.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. CIBC lifted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their target price on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Williams Companies presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $56.07.

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.