Pioneer Trust Bank N A OR Invests $276,000 in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Pioneer Trust Bank N A OR acquired a new stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 5,091 shares of the pipeline company's stock, valued at approximately $276,000.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in WMB. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $575,103,000. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in 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 valued at $1,631,288,000 after purchasing an additional 5,697,605 shares during the last quarter. Amundi lifted its holdings in Williams Companies by 28.8% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 8,781,963 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $495,215,000 after purchasing an additional 1,964,421 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 1,555,667 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pictet Asset Management Holding SA grew its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 147.1% during the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 1,906,740 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $103,193,000 after buying an additional 1,135,195 shares in the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on WMB. CIBC upped their price target on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Citigroup raised their target price on Williams Companies from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Scotiabank lifted their price target on Williams Companies from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Truist Financial upped their price objective 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. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $56.07.

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Williams Companies Stock Down 3.3 %

Shares of NYSE WMB traded down $1.84 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $54.58. The company's stock had a trading volume of 5,169,391 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,658,060. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $66.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 0.87. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $57.23 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $55.29. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $37.18 and a 1 year high of $61.67.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly 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%. On average, equities analysts predict that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. 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 dividend yield of 3.66%. Williams Companies's payout ratio is currently 109.29%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 81,265 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,627,229.10. The trade was a 8.96 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Micheal G. Dunn sold 96,687 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 714,693 shares in the company, valued at $37,907,316.72. This trade represents a 11.92 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 139,583 shares of company stock worth $7,563,278. Company insiders own 0.44% of the company's stock.

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.