The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) Shares Sold by Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC

Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC trimmed its holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 46.2% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 61,751 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 52,996 shares during the quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $3,342,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Williams Companies by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 130,356,165 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $7,054,876,000 after purchasing an additional 1,008,213 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 19.0% in 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 purchasing an additional 5,697,605 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in 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 buying an additional 520,663 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Williams Companies during the fourth quarter worth $575,103,000. Finally, Amundi grew its holdings in Williams Companies by 28.8% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 8,781,963 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $495,215,000 after buying an additional 1,964,421 shares in the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Williams Companies

In related news, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 8,896 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.50, for a total value of $511,520.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 22,339 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,284,492.50. This represents a 28.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Chad A. Teply sold 26,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 owns 133,048 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,511,890.08. This represents a 16.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 139,583 shares of company stock valued at $7,563,278 over the last 90 days. 0.44% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WMB has been the topic of several analyst reports. Scotiabank lifted their price target on Williams Companies from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, March 6th. CIBC boosted their target price 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. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Williams Companies from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their target price on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. 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 company. According to MarketBeat.com, Williams Companies has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $56.07.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Williams Companies stock opened at $59.77 on Tuesday. 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 Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52-week low of $37.18 and a 52-week high of $61.67. The firm has a market cap of $72.88 billion, a PE ratio of 32.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 1.03. The company’s 50 day moving average is $57.31 and its two-hundred day moving average is $54.70.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced 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 return on equity of 15.85% and a net margin of 21.17%. On average, research 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This is an increase from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.35%. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is currently 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.