Quantessence Capital LLC Makes New $1.88 Million Investment in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Quantessence Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund bought 34,689 shares of the pipeline company's stock, valued at approximately $1,877,000.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of WMB. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the fourth quarter valued at about $575,103,000. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 2,303.2% in the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 3,517,336 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $190,358,000 after buying an additional 3,370,974 shares during the period. Amundi grew its position in Williams Companies by 28.8% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 8,781,963 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $495,215,000 after buying an additional 1,964,421 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in Williams Companies by 3,490.2% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,600,239 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $86,605,000 after acquiring an additional 1,555,667 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co grew its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 94.9% during the 4th quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 2,873,894 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $155,430,000 after purchasing an additional 1,399,161 shares in the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams Companies

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Chad A. Teply sold 26,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.46, for a total value of $1,467,960.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 133,048 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,511,890.08. This trade represents a 16.35 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 8,896 shares of the 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 sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 22,339 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,284,492.50. This represents a 28.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 139,583 shares of company stock worth $7,563,278 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.44% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WMB has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Truist Financial lifted their price target on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. CIBC raised 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. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Williams Companies from $58.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. Scotiabank increased their target price 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, Citigroup upped their price objective on Williams Companies from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $57.77.

Williams Companies Trading Down 3.7 %

NYSE WMB opened at $56.47 on Tuesday. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a one year low of $37.69 and a one year high of $61.67. 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 business's fifty day moving average is $57.47 and its 200-day moving average is $55.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $68.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.86, a PEG ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 0.87.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The pipeline company reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.47. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 15.85% and a net margin of 21.17%. Equities research analysts predict that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.54%. This is a positive change from Williams Companies's previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. Williams Companies's dividend payout ratio 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.

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