Vanguard Group Inc. Grows Holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 0.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 130,356,165 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,008,213 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 10.69% of Williams Companies worth $7,054,876,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WMB. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft grew its holdings in 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 in the last quarter. Albion Financial Group UT grew its holdings 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 buying an additional 184 shares in the last quarter. Sprinkle Financial Consultants LLC grew its holdings 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 buying an additional 185 shares in the last quarter. AMG National Trust Bank grew its holdings in Williams Companies by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. AMG National Trust Bank now owns 30,813 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,669,000 after buying an additional 186 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tower Wealth Partners Inc. grew its holdings in Williams Companies by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. Tower Wealth Partners Inc. now owns 4,591 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $248,000 after buying an additional 191 shares in the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Shares of Williams Companies stock opened at $59.60 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $72.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.57, a P/E/G ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a current ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12 month low of $37.18 and a 12 month high of $61.46. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $57.09 and its 200-day moving average price is $54.05.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The pipeline company reported $0.47 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, equities research analysts expect that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is 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 yield of 3.36%. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is currently 109.29%.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Larry C. Larsen sold 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.94, for a total value of $455,520.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 81,265 shares in the company, valued at $4,627,229.10. This represents a 8.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Chad A. Teply sold 26,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 27th. The stock was 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 139,583 shares of company stock worth $7,563,278 over the last 90 days. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WMB has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Barclays increased their target price on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, CIBC increased their target price on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $55.21.

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.