Ensign Peak Advisors Inc Boosts Stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Ensign Peak Advisors Inc boosted its stake in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 0.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 521,862 shares of the pipeline company's stock after acquiring an additional 4,714 shares during the quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc's holdings in Williams Companies were worth $28,243,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft grew its stake in Williams Companies by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft now owns 5,568 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $300,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares during the period. EP Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Williams Companies by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 17,889 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $968,000 after acquiring an additional 183 shares during the period. Albion Financial Group UT grew its stake in Williams Companies by 18.4% in the fourth quarter. Albion Financial Group UT now owns 1,184 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $64,000 after acquiring an additional 184 shares during the period. Sprinkle Financial Consultants LLC grew its stake in Williams Companies by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Sprinkle Financial Consultants LLC now owns 5,073 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $275,000 after acquiring an additional 185 shares during the period. Finally, AMG National Trust Bank grew its stake in Williams Companies by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. AMG National Trust Bank now owns 30,813 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $1,669,000 after acquiring an additional 186 shares during the period. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Williams Companies from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. CIBC raised their price objective on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Williams Companies from $58.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 25th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Williams Companies from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $60.50.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Chad A. Teply sold 26,000 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.46, for a total value of $1,467,960.00. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Larry C. Larsen sold 8,000 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.94, for a total value of $455,520.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 81,265 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,627,229.10. This trade represents a 8.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 139,583 shares of company stock worth $7,563,278. 0.44% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Shares of WMB traded up $0.01 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $58.78. The stock had a trading volume of 2,138,508 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,625,710. The firm has a market cap of $71.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.12, a PEG ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 0.66. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $58.16 and a 200-day moving average price of $56.82. 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 Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52 week low of $39.88 and a 52 week high of $61.67.

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

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.40%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. Williams Companies's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 106.95%.

Williams Companies 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.