Caprock Group LLC Purchases 20,917 Shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Caprock Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 160.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 33,960 shares of the pipeline company's stock after purchasing an additional 20,917 shares during the period. Caprock Group LLC's holdings in Williams Companies were worth $1,550,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. increased its holdings in Williams Companies by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. now owns 12,670,175 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $538,482,000 after purchasing an additional 144,713 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased 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 valued at $410,064,000 after purchasing an additional 311,530 shares in the last quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. increased its holdings in Williams Companies by 8.8% during 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 in the last quarter. Blackstone Inc. increased its holdings in Williams Companies by 109.1% during the 1st quarter. Blackstone Inc. now owns 6,466,660 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $252,006,000 after purchasing an additional 3,373,800 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in 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 valued at $259,985,000 after purchasing an additional 1,024,158 shares in the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on WMB shares. Scotiabank raised their price target on Williams Companies from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Barclays lifted their target price on Williams Companies from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Seaport Res Ptn cut Williams Companies from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Mizuho lifted their target price on Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their target price on Williams Companies from $42.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $51.54.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 7,951 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.30, for a total value of $447,641.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 25,858 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,455,805.40. This trade represents a 23.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.44% of the company's stock.

Williams Companies Stock Up 0.2 %

NYSE:WMB opened at $58.70 on Thursday. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12-month low of $32.65 and a 12-month high of $59.17. The company has a quick ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 0.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $71.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.77, a P/E/G ratio of 6.04 and a beta of 1.03. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $50.76 and its 200-day simple moving average is $45.40.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $2.65 billion for 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 revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.45 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.475 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.24%. Williams Companies's dividend payout ratio is presently 80.17%.

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.