CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co Acquires 1,399,161 Shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co boosted its position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 94.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,873,894 shares of the pipeline company's stock after buying an additional 1,399,161 shares during the quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co owned approximately 0.24% of Williams Companies worth $155,430,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. First Commonwealth Financial Corp PA increased its stake in Williams Companies by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. First Commonwealth Financial Corp PA now owns 20,240 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $1,095,000 after purchasing an additional 493 shares during the last quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd bought a new position in Williams Companies in the fourth quarter worth about $141,000. Zacks Investment Management boosted its stake in Williams Companies by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Zacks Investment Management now owns 132,421 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $7,167,000 after acquiring an additional 3,365 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP raised its position in shares of Williams Companies by 2,303.2% during the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 3,517,336 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $190,358,000 after purchasing an additional 3,370,974 shares during the period. Finally, Main Street Financial Solutions LLC acquired a new position in Williams Companies during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $521,000. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Williams Companies

In other news, SVP Chad A. Teply sold 26,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The shares were 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 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Micheal G. Dunn sold 96,687 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.04, for a total value of $5,128,278.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 714,693 shares in the company, valued at $37,907,316.72. The trade was a 11.92 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 139,583 shares of company stock valued at $7,563,278 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.44% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on WMB shares. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Truist Financial lifted their target price on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. CIBC upped their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased 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. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Williams Companies has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $57.77.

Williams Companies Trading Down 3.7 %

NYSE WMB traded down $2.15 on Monday, hitting $56.47. 5,394,745 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,623,827. The company has a market capitalization of $68.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.86, a P/E/G ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 0.87. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52-week low of $37.69 and a 52-week high of $61.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 0.50 and a quick ratio of 0.45. The company's 50-day moving average price is $57.43 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $55.91.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The pipeline company reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.47. Williams Companies had a net margin of 21.17% and a return on equity of 15.85%. 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a $0.50 dividend. This is a positive change from Williams Companies's previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Williams Companies's dividend 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.