The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) Shares Acquired by Ninety One UK Ltd

Ninety One UK Ltd grew its stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 57.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 461,711 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 167,699 shares during the quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $24,988,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of WMB. Czech National Bank raised its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 6.9% in the 3rd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 248,309 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $11,335,000 after purchasing an additional 16,064 shares in the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co raised its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 31.3% in the 3rd quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 16,886 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $771,000 after purchasing an additional 4,021 shares in the last quarter. Axiom Advisory LLC raised its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Axiom Advisory LLC now owns 19,907 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $876,000 after purchasing an additional 498 shares in the last quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 34.0% in the 3rd quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 12,301 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $562,000 after purchasing an additional 3,121 shares in the last quarter. Finally, O Keefe Stevens Advisory Inc. raised its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 43.3% in the 3rd quarter. O Keefe Stevens Advisory Inc. now owns 10,603 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $484,000 after purchasing an additional 3,204 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Williams Companies news, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 7,951 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.30, for a total value of $447,641.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 25,858 shares in the company, valued at $1,455,805.40. This represents a 23.52 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Trading Up 2.1 %

Williams Companies stock opened at $56.86 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $56.03 and a 200 day moving average price of $51.03. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52 week low of $32.65 and a 52 week high of $61.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a current ratio of 0.57. The firm has a market capitalization of $69.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.99, a P/E/G ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 1.05.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.01. Williams Companies had a net margin of 27.36% and a return on equity of 15.89%. The firm had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.52 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.45 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.91 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The business 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. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.52%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 80.17%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on WMB. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. CIBC increased their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased 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. Finally, Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Williams Companies has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $53.00.

Williams Companies Company 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.