Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Lowers Stock Position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio trimmed its position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 442,112 shares of the pipeline company's stock after selling 22,023 shares during the quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio's holdings in Williams Companies were worth $20,182,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WMB. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,000. SouthState Corp bought a new stake in Williams Companies in the second quarter valued at $31,000. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Williams Companies during the 2nd quarter valued at $34,000. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton raised its holdings in Williams Companies by 50.4% in the 3rd quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 752 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 252 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP purchased a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the 2nd quarter worth about $35,000. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on WMB shares. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. CIBC increased their target price on 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 raised their target price on Williams Companies from $55.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Barclays upped their price target on Williams Companies from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $52.07.

Insider Transactions at Williams Companies

In other news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.29, for a total transaction of $90,580.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 304,200 shares of the company's stock, valued at $13,777,218. This represents a 0.65 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 7,951 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.30, for a total transaction of $447,641.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 25,858 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,455,805.40. The trade was a 23.52 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.44% of the company's stock.

Williams Companies Stock Up 1.5 %

Shares of WMB traded up $0.84 on Wednesday, hitting $55.39. 7,781,411 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,343,081. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a one year low of $32.65 and a one year high of $60.36. The company has a market capitalization of $67.52 billion, a PE ratio of 23.32, a P/E/G ratio of 5.84 and a beta of 1.05. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $54.11 and a 200 day simple moving average of $47.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a current ratio of 0.57.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.52 billion. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 15.89% and a net margin of 27.36%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.45 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.475 per share. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.43%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Williams Companies's payout ratio is presently 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.