Korea Investment CORP Raises Position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Korea Investment CORP grew its position in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 12.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 918,925 shares of the pipeline company's stock after buying an additional 102,976 shares during the quarter. Korea Investment CORP owned 0.08% of Williams Companies worth $49,732,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP raised 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 purchasing an additional 5,697,605 shares in the last quarter. Amundi increased its position in Williams Companies by 28.8% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 8,781,963 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $495,215,000 after purchasing an additional 1,964,421 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in shares of 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 worth $86,605,000 after buying an additional 1,555,667 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 130,356,165 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $7,054,876,000 after buying an additional 1,008,213 shares during the period. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI lifted its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $60,909,000 after buying an additional 922,550 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company's stock.

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Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Chad A. Teply sold 26,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 133,048 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,511,890.08. This represents a 16.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Larry C. Larsen sold 8,000 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.94, for a total transaction of $455,520.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 81,265 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,627,229.10. This trade represents a 8.96 % decrease in their position. 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 in the last 90 days. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Williams Companies Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of Williams Companies stock traded up $0.48 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $59.67. 3,241,705 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,480,845. The stock has a market capitalization of $72.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 1.03. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a twelve month low of $37.18 and a twelve month high of $61.67. 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 company has a 50-day simple moving average of $57.30 and a 200 day simple moving average of $54.60.

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

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. This is a boost from Williams Companies's previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.35%. Williams Companies's payout ratio is 109.29%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WMB has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Williams Companies from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $58.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Williams Companies has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target 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.