Vontobel Holding Ltd. Increases Stock Holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Vontobel Holding Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 158.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 55,795 shares of the pipeline company's stock after purchasing an additional 34,205 shares during the quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd.'s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $3,020,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted its stake in Williams Companies by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft now owns 5,568 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $300,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares during the last quarter. Albion Financial Group UT lifted its stake in Williams Companies by 18.4% during the fourth quarter. Albion Financial Group UT now owns 1,184 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $64,000 after purchasing an additional 184 shares during the last quarter. Sprinkle Financial Consultants LLC lifted its stake in Williams Companies by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Sprinkle Financial Consultants LLC now owns 5,073 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $275,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares during the last quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Williams Companies by 24.4% during the fourth quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 995 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $54,000 after purchasing an additional 195 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group lifted its stake in Williams Companies by 2.6% during the third quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 7,817 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $357,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on WMB shares. Mizuho increased their price objective on Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Barclays increased their price objective on Williams Companies from $46.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Williams Companies from $55.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Scotiabank reissued a "sector perform" rating and issued a $51.00 price objective on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price objective on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Williams Companies presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $53.29.

Williams Companies Price Performance

NYSE:WMB traded up $0.19 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $58.46. The company's stock had a trading volume of 6,417,482 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,605,775. The business's 50-day moving average is $56.02 and its two-hundred day moving average is $52.03. The company has a market capitalization of $71.27 billion, a PE ratio of 31.95, a PEG ratio of 5.10 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.50. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52-week low of $34.13 and a 52-week high of $61.46.

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

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.50 dividend. This is a boost from Williams Companies's previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.42%. Williams Companies's dividend payout ratio is presently 103.83%.

Williams Companies 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.