The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) Shares Sold by Clarius Group LLC

Clarius Group LLC cut its stake in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 3.9% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 8,596 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 348 shares during the period. Clarius Group LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $465,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted 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 acquiring an additional 5,697,605 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Williams Companies by 1.7% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 30,722,702 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,398,004,000 after purchasing an additional 520,663 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings 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 in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank increased its position in 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 raised 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 buying an additional 108,675 shares in the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Williams Companies Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:WMB opened at $59.22 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 0.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67. The company has a market capitalization of $72.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.99, a P/E/G ratio of 5.36 and a beta of 1.06. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52-week low of $32.65 and a 52-week high of $60.36. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $56.13 and its 200-day simple moving average is $49.76.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.52 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 27.36% and a return on equity of 15.89%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.45 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th were issued a $0.475 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.21%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 80.17%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WMB has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Scotiabank reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $51.00 price objective on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Friday, January 10th. Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Williams Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $52.00 to $58.00 in a report on Friday, October 4th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. 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 company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $53.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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 value of $447,641.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 25,858 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,455,805.40. This represents a 23.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate 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.