D.A. Davidson & CO. Trims Position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

D.A. Davidson & CO. cut its holdings in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 5.6% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 72,870 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 4,338 shares during the quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO.’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $3,944,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in Williams Companies by 19.0% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 35,734,666 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,631,288,000 after buying an additional 5,697,605 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 1.7% during the 3rd 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 during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,239,210 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $330,470,000 after purchasing an additional 67,016 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank grew its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 3,617,300 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $165,130,000 after purchasing an additional 9,800 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC grew its stake in shares of 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 period. 86.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on WMB shares. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. UBS Group lifted their price target 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. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $46.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of 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 price target on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $53.29.

Williams Companies Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of WMB opened at $58.46 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $71.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.10 and a beta of 1.04. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12-month low of $34.13 and a 12-month high of $61.46. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $56.09 and its 200 day moving average price is $52.07. The company has a current ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The pipeline company reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.47. Williams Companies had a net margin of 21.17% and a return on equity of 15.85%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced 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 an increase from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.42%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is currently 103.83%.

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.