Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund Reduces Stock Holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund reduced its stake in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 32.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 24,202 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 11,887 shares during the quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $1,310,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft now owns 5,568 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $300,000 after buying an additional 180 shares during the period. Albion Financial Group UT grew its stake in Williams Companies by 18.4% during the 4th quarter. Albion Financial Group UT now owns 1,184 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $64,000 after purchasing an additional 184 shares in the last quarter. Sprinkle Financial Consultants LLC grew its stake in Williams Companies by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. Sprinkle Financial Consultants LLC now owns 5,073 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $275,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares in the last quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Williams Companies by 24.4% during the 4th quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 995 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $54,000 after purchasing an additional 195 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group grew its stake in Williams Companies by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 7,817 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $357,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares in the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Williams Companies Trading Up 1.4 %

NYSE:WMB opened at $57.78 on Wednesday. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12-month low of $33.85 and a 12-month high of $61.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $70.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.57, a P/E/G ratio of 5.07 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 0.50 and a quick ratio of 0.45. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $55.97 and a 200 day simple moving average of $51.98.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The pipeline company reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 15.85% and a net margin of 21.17%. Equities research analysts predict that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.06 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.46%. This is an increase from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is presently 103.83%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on WMB shares. UBS Group raised their price objective on Williams Companies from $55.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. CIBC raised their price objective on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Mizuho raised their price objective on Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. One equities research 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 MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $53.29.

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.