The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) Shares Sold by KBC Group NV

KBC Group NV lessened its holdings in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 5.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 128,801 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 7,045 shares during the quarter. KBC Group NV’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $6,970,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in Williams Companies by 28.0% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 16,838 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $911,000 after purchasing an additional 3,679 shares during the period. Drive Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the 4th quarter worth approximately $207,000. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management bought a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $378,000. AlphaMark Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Finally, Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in Williams Companies by 16.3% during the fourth quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC now owns 58,870 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $3,186,000 after purchasing an additional 8,246 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WMB has been the subject of a number of research reports. Mizuho increased their price target on Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Truist Financial lifted their target price on Williams Companies from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $55.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. CIBC raised their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Williams Companies currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $53.00.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Shares of WMB stock opened at $56.55 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $68.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.86, a P/E/G ratio of 5.31 and a beta of 1.06. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1-year low of $32.65 and a 1-year high of $61.46. The company has a current ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $56.27 and its 200-day simple moving average is $50.61.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.52 billion. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 15.89% and a net margin of 27.36%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.45 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.54%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 84.39%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams Companies

In related news, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 7,951 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.30, for a total transaction of $447,641.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 25,858 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,455,805.40. This trade represents a 23.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company 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.