The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) Shares Sold by Truist Financial Corp

Truist Financial Corp decreased its stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 4.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,559,756 shares of the pipeline company's stock after selling 67,809 shares during the quarter. Truist Financial Corp owned approximately 0.13% of Williams Companies worth $84,414,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 19.0% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 35,734,666 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $1,631,288,000 after acquiring an additional 5,697,605 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Williams Companies by 1.7% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 30,722,702 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $1,398,004,000 after purchasing an additional 520,663 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in 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 during the last quarter. Swiss National Bank lifted its holdings in Williams Companies by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 3,617,300 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $165,130,000 after purchasing an additional 9,800 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC boosted its stake in Williams Companies by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 3,271,141 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $149,326,000 after purchasing an additional 108,675 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on WMB. Scotiabank reiterated a "sector perform" rating and issued a $51.00 target price on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Friday, January 10th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $55.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on Williams Companies from $46.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $53.29.

Williams Companies Trading Down 1.7 %

Shares of NYSE WMB traded down $1.02 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $57.44. 11,081,263 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,709,167. The company's 50-day moving average is $56.15 and its 200-day moving average is $52.18. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $70.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.39, a PEG ratio of 5.00 and a beta of 1.04. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52-week low of $34.26 and a 52-week high of $61.46.

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

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.48%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is an increase from Williams Companies's previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. Williams Companies's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 109.29%.

About Williams Companies

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.