The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) Shares Sold by Retirement Systems of Alabama

Retirement Systems of Alabama trimmed its holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 1.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 263,927 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 3,715 shares during the period. Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $14,284,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Ninety One UK Ltd grew its holdings in Williams Companies by 57.0% in the fourth quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 461,711 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $24,988,000 after purchasing an additional 167,699 shares during the period. Mather Group LLC. grew its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 9,620 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $521,000 after buying an additional 280 shares during the period. Calamos Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 56.8% during the 4th quarter. Calamos Advisors LLC now owns 400,082 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $21,652,000 after buying an additional 144,953 shares during the period. Columbus Macro LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the 4th quarter worth $7,002,000. Finally, abrdn plc raised its position in shares of Williams Companies by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. abrdn plc now owns 1,504,850 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $81,367,000 after buying an additional 26,846 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on WMB. Bank of America initiated coverage on Williams Companies in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $55.00 price target for the company. Truist Financial raised 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. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted 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. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Scotiabank reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $51.00 price target on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Friday, January 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Williams Companies has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $53.00.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Shares of WMB opened at $55.93 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $68.18 billion, a PE ratio of 23.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 1.04. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $55.96 and its 200 day moving average price is $51.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 0.57 and a quick ratio of 0.51. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12-month low of $32.65 and a 12-month high of $61.46.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $2.65 billion during 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 company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.45 EPS. Equities 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 paid a $0.50 dividend. 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 3.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is presently 84.39%.

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.