Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co Trims Holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co lowered its position in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 6.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 117,092 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 8,487 shares during the quarter. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $6,337,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership purchased a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the 4th quarter valued at $6,464,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in Williams Companies by 13.7% in the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 2,179,344 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $123,351,000 after buying an additional 262,611 shares in the last quarter. Korea Investment CORP raised its holdings in Williams Companies by 12.6% during the fourth quarter. Korea Investment CORP now owns 918,925 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $49,732,000 after acquiring an additional 102,976 shares during the period. Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. lifted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. now owns 26,475 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,433,000 after acquiring an additional 401 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 33,116 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,792,000 after acquiring an additional 460 shares during the period. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. Barclays lifted their target price on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of 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 shares of Williams Companies from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. CIBC raised their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $58.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $56.07.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams Companies

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Chad A. Teply sold 26,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.46, for a total value of $1,467,960.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 133,048 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,511,890.08. The trade was a 16.35 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Micheal G. Dunn sold 96,687 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.04, for a total transaction of $5,128,278.48. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 714,693 shares in the company, valued at approximately $37,907,316.72. This trade represents a 11.92 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 139,583 shares of company stock worth $7,563,278 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

NYSE WMB opened at $59.48 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $57.30 and its 200-day moving average price is $54.36. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $37.18 and a fifty-two week high of $61.67. The company has a market cap of $72.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.50, a P/E/G ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.50.

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

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.36%. This is an increase from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 109.29%.

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.