Voya Investment Management LLC Has $37.59 Million Stock Holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Voya Investment Management LLC increased its position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 78.3% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 694,588 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after acquiring an additional 305,092 shares during the period. Voya Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $37,591,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Quent Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Bank of Jackson Hole Trust bought a new position in Williams Companies in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. AlphaMark Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Williams Companies during the 4th quarter worth $27,000. Sandy Spring Bank acquired a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Finally, Hoey Investments Inc. bought a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the 4th quarter worth $28,000. 86.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Williams Companies

In other Williams Companies news, COO Micheal G. Dunn sold 96,687 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.04, for a total value of $5,128,278.48. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 714,693 shares in the company, valued at $37,907,316.72. This trade represents a 11.92 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Larry C. Larsen sold 8,000 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.94, for a total value of $455,520.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 81,265 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,627,229.10. The trade was a 8.96 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 139,583 shares of company stock valued at $7,563,278. 0.44% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. CIBC upped their price objective on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $58.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price objective on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Williams Companies currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $57.77.

Williams Companies Trading Down 0.9 %

NYSE WMB opened at $59.05 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $72.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.27, a PEG ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 0.87. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52 week low of $37.69 and a 52 week high of $61.67. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $57.59 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $56.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.50.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The pipeline company reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.47. Williams Companies had a net margin of 21.17% and a return on equity of 15.85%. As a group, analysts anticipate that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.39%. This is an increase from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is currently 109.29%.

Williams Companies Company 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.