Machina Capital S.A.S. Buys New Holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Machina Capital S.A.S. bought a new position in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 10,645 shares of the pipeline company's stock, valued at approximately $576,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of WMB. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 19.0% in the 3rd 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 during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Williams Companies by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 30,722,702 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $1,398,004,000 after acquiring an additional 520,663 shares during the period. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 8,425,933 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $456,012,000 after purchasing an additional 234,423 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,405,951 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $400,810,000 after purchasing an additional 166,741 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swiss National Bank increased its holdings in Williams Companies by 0.3% in the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 3,617,300 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $165,130,000 after purchasing an additional 9,800 shares in the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Remove Ads

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently weighed in on WMB shares. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $55.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Truist Financial upped their price target on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $46.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. Scotiabank increased their price target on Williams Companies from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, CIBC boosted their target price on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. One 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $55.07.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams Companies

In related news, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 8,896 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.50, for a total transaction of $511,520.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 22,339 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,284,492.50. This trade represents a 28.48 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Chad A. Teply sold 26,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 133,048 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,511,890.08. This represents a 16.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 131,583 shares of company stock worth $7,107,758 over the last three months. 0.44% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Williams Companies Price Performance

NYSE:WMB traded up $1.46 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $56.41. The stock had a trading volume of 7,875,036 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,903,785. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $56.71 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $53.33. The firm has a market capitalization of $68.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.82, a P/E/G ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 1.03. 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 Williams Companies, Inc. has a one year low of $36.56 and a one year high of $61.46.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last posted 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 return on equity of 15.85% and a net margin of 21.17%. Research analysts forecast that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. This is an increase from Williams Companies's previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.55%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Williams Companies's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.