Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund Trims Stock Holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund lowered its holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 71.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 47,000 shares of the pipeline company's stock after selling 117,800 shares during the quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund's holdings in Williams Companies were worth $2,146,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Glenmede Trust Co. NA boosted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 0.6% during the third quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA now owns 175,294 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $8,002,000 after acquiring an additional 1,012 shares during the last quarter. Cadence Bank grew its stake in Williams Companies by 14.1% during the third quarter. Cadence Bank now owns 8,905 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $407,000 after buying an additional 1,101 shares during the period. Avestar Capital LLC raised its position in Williams Companies by 6.2% in the third quarter. Avestar Capital LLC now owns 5,210 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $238,000 after purchasing an additional 306 shares during the period. Brooklyn Investment Group raised its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 7,817 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $357,000 after buying an additional 197 shares during the period. Finally, Partners Group Holding AG raised its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 44.7% during the third quarter. Partners Group Holding AG now owns 785,177 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $35,843,000 after purchasing an additional 242,670 shares during the period. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently issued reports on WMB. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. CIBC lifted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Barclays lifted their target price on Williams Companies from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. StockNews.com lowered shares of Williams Companies from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Finally, Truist Financial raised 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, eight have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Williams Companies presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $51.79.

Williams Companies Stock Down 3.5 %

Williams Companies stock traded down $2.07 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $56.45. The company's stock had a trading volume of 7,952,285 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,297,445. 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 business's 50 day simple moving average is $52.65 and its 200 day simple moving average is $46.38. The company has a market capitalization of $68.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.00 and a beta of 1.05. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12 month low of $32.65 and a 12 month high of $60.36.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly 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. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 15.89% and a net margin of 27.36%. The firm had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.52 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.45 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a $0.475 dividend. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.37%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Williams Companies's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 80.17%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams Companies

In related news, 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 transaction of $447,641.30. Following the completion of the sale, 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were 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 approximately $13,777,218. This trade represents a 0.65 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.44% of the company's stock.

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.