The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) Shares Sold by State Street Corp

State Street Corp decreased its stake in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 78,218,457 shares of the pipeline company's stock after selling 1,253,184 shares during the quarter. State Street Corp owned approximately 6.42% of Williams Companies worth $3,570,673,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. increased its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 1.2% during the second quarter. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. now owns 12,670,175 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $538,482,000 after buying an additional 144,713 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Williams Companies by 3.3% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,648,918 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $410,064,000 after acquiring an additional 311,530 shares in the last quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. increased its position in shares of Williams Companies by 8.8% in the 2nd quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 7,664,152 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $325,726,000 after purchasing an additional 618,056 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,239,210 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $330,470,000 after purchasing an additional 67,016 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 20.1% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 6,117,298 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $259,985,000 after purchasing an additional 1,024,158 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on WMB shares. Truist Financial increased their target price on Williams Companies from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday. Scotiabank increased their price objective on Williams Companies from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Thursday, August 8th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Williams Companies from $55.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $52.07.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Williams Companies Stock Performance

NYSE WMB traded down $0.32 during trading on Friday, reaching $56.84. The company's stock had a trading volume of 8,371,382 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,319,935. The business's fifty day moving average price is $53.53 and its 200-day moving average price is $46.74. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a twelve month low of $32.65 and a twelve month high of $60.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a current ratio of 0.57. The firm has a market cap of $69.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.99, a P/E/G ratio of 5.78 and a beta of 1.05.

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

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

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 paid a dividend of $0.475 per share. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.34%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Williams Companies's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 80.17%.

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.