1,811,399 Shares in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) Bought by Alyeska Investment Group L.P.

Alyeska Investment Group L.P. bought a new position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 1,811,399 shares of the pipeline company's stock, valued at approximately $98,033,000. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. owned approximately 0.15% of Williams Companies as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

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

Williams Companies Stock Up 0.5 %

WMB stock traded up $0.30 on Wednesday, reaching $59.00. 7,946,749 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,658,150. 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 firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $57.89 and a 200-day simple moving average of $56.58. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a one year low of $38.76 and a one year high of $61.67. The company has a market cap of $71.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 0.66.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.05. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 15.85% and a net margin of 21.17%. The firm had revenue of $3.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.90 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.59 EPS. Williams Companies's quarterly revenue was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.39%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. Williams Companies's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 109.29%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WMB has been the subject of several recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Williams Companies from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective 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. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Williams Companies has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $59.15.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Williams Companies news, COO Micheal G. Dunn sold 96,687 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.04, for a total transaction of $5,128,278.48. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 714,693 shares in the company, valued at $37,907,316.72. The trade was a 11.92 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Larry C. Larsen sold 8,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.94, for a total transaction of $455,520.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly 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. In the last quarter, insiders sold 139,583 shares of company stock valued at $7,563,278. Corporate insiders own 0.44% of the company's stock.

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.