The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) Holdings Trimmed by Assetmark Inc.

Assetmark Inc. lowered its position in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 8.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 55,453 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 5,240 shares during the quarter. Assetmark Inc.’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $3,001,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of WMB. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Williams Companies by 2.3% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,576,165 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $71,952,000 after buying an additional 35,981 shares in the last quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the 3rd quarter valued at $300,000. RKL Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the 3rd quarter valued at $267,000. XML Financial LLC boosted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter. XML Financial LLC now owns 6,850 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $313,000 after purchasing an additional 302 shares during the period. Finally, Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 127.1% in the 3rd quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. now owns 25,712 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,174,000 after purchasing an additional 14,389 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Williams Companies

In other news, SVP Chad A. Teply sold 26,000 shares of the business’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 transaction of $1,467,960.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 133,048 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,511,890.08. The trade was a 16.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 8,896 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.50, for a total value of $511,520.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 22,339 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,284,492.50. This represents a 28.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Truist Financial increased their price target on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Citigroup increased their price target on Williams Companies from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. UBS Group increased their price target on Williams Companies from $55.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on Williams Companies from $46.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. One 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 company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $55.07.

Williams Companies Stock Down 0.4 %

WMB opened at $54.37 on Monday. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $35.78 and a fifty-two week high of $61.46. The business has a 50-day moving average of $56.70 and a 200-day moving average of $53.20. 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 company has a market capitalization of $66.30 billion, a PE ratio of 29.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 1.03.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The pipeline company reported $0.47 earnings per share 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 forecast that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.68%. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is 109.29%.

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.