State of Michigan Retirement System Decreases Holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

State of Michigan Retirement System lowered its position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 0.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 330,821 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 1,100 shares during the period. State of Michigan Retirement System’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $17,904,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in Williams Companies by 19.0% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 35,734,666 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,631,288,000 after acquiring an additional 5,697,605 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in Williams Companies by 3,490.2% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,600,239 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $86,605,000 after acquiring an additional 1,555,667 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 224.1% in the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 1,334,307 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $60,909,000 after purchasing an additional 922,550 shares in the last quarter. Castle Hook Partners LP grew its position in shares of Williams Companies by 31.7% in the third quarter. Castle Hook Partners LP now owns 2,989,278 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $136,461,000 after purchasing an additional 718,915 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 30,722,702 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,398,004,000 after purchasing an additional 520,663 shares in the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

NYSE:WMB opened at $56.90 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $69.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.09, a P/E/G ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 1.04. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $56.65 and its two-hundred day moving average is $52.98. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $35.74 and a fifty-two week high of $61.46. The company has a quick ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The pipeline company reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 15.85% and a net margin of 21.17%. Analysts expect that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. This is a positive change from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is currently 109.29%.

Insider Transactions at Williams Companies

In related news, SVP Chad A. Teply sold 26,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.46, for a total transaction of $1,467,960.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 133,048 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,511,890.08. This represents a 16.35 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently issued reports on WMB. CIBC upped their target price on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Barclays upped their price objective on Williams Companies from $46.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Williams Companies from $55.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Scotiabank restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $51.00 target price on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. 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 company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $54.93.

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.