California Public Employees Retirement System cut its holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 2.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,423,715 shares of the pipeline company's stock after selling 63,256 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System owned about 0.20% of Williams Companies worth $131,171,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft now owns 5,568 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $300,000 after buying an additional 180 shares during the period. Albion Financial Group UT grew its holdings in Williams Companies by 18.4% in the 4th quarter. Albion Financial Group UT now owns 1,184 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $64,000 after acquiring an additional 184 shares during the last quarter. Sprinkle Financial Consultants LLC increased its position in shares of Williams Companies by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Sprinkle Financial Consultants LLC now owns 5,073 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $275,000 after acquiring an additional 185 shares during the period. AMG National Trust Bank raised its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. AMG National Trust Bank now owns 30,813 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $1,669,000 after acquiring an additional 186 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tower Wealth Partners Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 4.3% during the fourth quarter. Tower Wealth Partners Inc. now owns 4,591 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $248,000 after purchasing an additional 191 shares during the period. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
WMB has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Truist Financial upped their price target on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Scotiabank upped their target price on Williams Companies from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Thursday, March 6th. CIBC lifted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. One 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $56.07.
Get Our Latest Analysis on Williams Companies
Williams Companies Stock Up 1.3 %
Williams Companies stock traded up $0.78 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $60.54. The stock had a trading volume of 5,771,962 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,500,294. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $57.31 and its 200-day moving average price is $54.81. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12-month low of $37.18 and a 12-month high of $61.67. The company has a quick ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $73.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 1.03.
Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last issued 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 return on equity of 15.85% and a net margin of 21.17%. Equities research analysts anticipate that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Williams Companies Increases Dividend
The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.30%. This is a boost from Williams Companies's previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Williams Companies's payout ratio is presently 109.29%.
Insider Activity at Williams Companies
In related news, SVP Chad A. Teply sold 26,000 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.46, for a total transaction of $1,467,960.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 133,048 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,511,890.08. The trade was a 16.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 8,896 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.50, for a total value of $511,520.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 22,339 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,284,492.50. The trade was a 28.48 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 139,583 shares of company stock worth $7,563,278 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.44% of the company's stock.
About Williams Companies
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Free Report)
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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