The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) Holdings Trimmed by Sompo Asset Management Co. Ltd.

Sompo Asset Management Co. Ltd. lowered its position in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 51.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 8,050 shares of the pipeline company's stock after selling 8,580 shares during the quarter. Sompo Asset Management Co. Ltd.'s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $436,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brasada Capital Management LP lifted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Brasada Capital Management LP now owns 217,284 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $12,138,000 after purchasing an additional 6,953 shares in the last quarter. MGO One Seven LLC raised its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 23.2% during the 4th quarter. MGO One Seven LLC now owns 81,428 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $4,407,000 after buying an additional 15,357 shares during the period. Quantessence Capital LLC acquired a new position in Williams Companies during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,877,000. Alta Advisers Ltd boosted its holdings in Williams Companies by 6.7% in the 4th quarter. Alta Advisers Ltd now owns 3,949 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $214,000 after acquiring an additional 249 shares during the period. Finally, Uniplan Investment Counsel Inc. grew its position in Williams Companies by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Uniplan Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 210,825 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $11,410,000 after acquiring an additional 1,675 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Chad A. Teply sold 26,000 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 133,048 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,511,890.08. The trade was a 16.35 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Larry C. Larsen sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 81,265 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,627,229.10. This represents a 8.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 139,583 shares of company stock worth $7,563,278. 0.44% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on WMB shares. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Williams Companies from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $58.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective 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. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with 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 "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $57.77.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Shares of WMB traded down $0.56 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $59.05. 4,471,067 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,635,267. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a twelve month low of $37.69 and a twelve month high of $61.67. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $57.59 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $56.18. 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 $72.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.27, a P/E/G ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 0.87.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The pipeline company reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.47. Williams Companies had a net margin of 21.17% and a return on equity of 15.85%. Analysts predict that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. 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 3.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Williams Companies's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.