Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Has $57.94 Million Position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System trimmed its holdings in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 2.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,070,511 shares of the pipeline company's stock after selling 28,155 shares during the period. Williams Companies accounts for 1.3% of Maryland State Retirement & Pension System's portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest position. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System owned approximately 0.09% of Williams Companies worth $57,936,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of WMB. Quent Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Bank of Jackson Hole Trust bought a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. AlphaMark Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the third quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, Financial Life Planners bought a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. 86.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams Companies

In other news, COO Micheal G. Dunn sold 96,687 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 714,693 shares of the company's stock, valued at $37,907,316.72. This represents a 11.92 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 8,896 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.50, for a total transaction of $511,520.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 22,339 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,284,492.50. This trade represents a 28.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 139,583 shares of company stock valued at $7,563,278. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Scotiabank increased their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Truist Financial increased their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. CIBC increased their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 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.com, Williams Companies currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $55.21.

Williams Companies Trading Down 0.3 %

WMB stock traded down $0.16 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $59.60. 13,202,488 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,181,508. 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 Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52-week low of $37.18 and a 52-week high of $61.46. The company has a market cap of $72.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.57, a P/E/G ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 1.03. The stock's fifty day moving average is $57.09 and its 200-day moving average is $53.99.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last posted 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Williams Companies's previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.36%. Williams Companies's dividend payout ratio is currently 109.29%.

Williams Companies Company Profile

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.