Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC Has $34.70 Million Stock Position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC trimmed its stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 2.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 641,170 shares of the pipeline company's stock after selling 12,996 shares during the quarter. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC owned approximately 0.05% of Williams Companies worth $34,700,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of WMB. V Square Quantitative Management LLC increased its stake in Williams Companies by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 23,160 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $1,253,000 after purchasing an additional 331 shares in the last quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Williams Companies by 32.8% in the fourth quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC now owns 890 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $48,000 after acquiring an additional 220 shares in the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 158.4% in the 4th quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 55,795 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $3,020,000 after acquiring an additional 34,205 shares in the last quarter. Avestar Capital LLC grew its position in Williams Companies by 20.1% during the 4th quarter. Avestar Capital LLC now owns 6,255 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $339,000 after purchasing an additional 1,045 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hudock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the fourth quarter valued at $202,000. 86.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WMB has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays lifted their price target on Williams Companies from $46.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. CIBC increased their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $55.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Scotiabank restated a "sector perform" rating and set a $51.00 price target on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Friday, January 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $53.29.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Shares of WMB stock traded up $0.80 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $57.78. The company had a trading volume of 7,328,802 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,561,368. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $55.90 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $51.87. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a one year low of $33.85 and a one year high of $61.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 0.57 and a quick ratio of 0.51. The company has a market capitalization of $70.44 billion, a PE ratio of 24.38, a PEG ratio of 5.06 and a beta of 1.04.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The pipeline company reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.47. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 15.89% and a net margin of 27.36%. Sell-side analysts forecast that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This is a positive change from Williams Companies's previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.46%. Williams Companies's payout ratio is currently 80.17%.

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.