The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) Shares Acquired by Man Group plc

Man Group plc lifted its stake in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 189.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 223,437 shares of the pipeline company's stock after buying an additional 146,152 shares during the quarter. Man Group plc's holdings in Williams Companies were worth $12,092,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in WMB. Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan ADV increased its holdings in Williams Companies by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan ADV now owns 181,072 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $9,767,000 after buying an additional 493 shares during the last quarter. NorthRock Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the 4th quarter worth about $510,000. Nuveen Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 42.3% in the 4th quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 6,458,270 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $349,522,000 after acquiring an additional 1,920,189 shares during the last quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp increased its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 23.8% in the 4th quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp now owns 52,426 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $2,837,000 after acquiring an additional 10,085 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Obermeyer Wealth Partners acquired a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the 4th quarter worth about $208,000. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on WMB. Citigroup upped their price target on Williams Companies from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. CIBC boosted their target price on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Scotiabank upped their target price on Williams Companies from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price target on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $60.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 8,896 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.50, for a total value of $511,520.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 22,339 shares in the company, valued at $1,284,492.50. The trade was a 28.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Chad A. Teply sold 26,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.46, for a total value 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 trade represents a 16.35% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 139,583 shares of company stock worth $7,563,278. Company insiders own 0.44% of the company's stock.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Shares of Williams Companies stock traded down $0.20 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $57.73. 6,186,698 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,628,000. The company has a current ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67. The business has a 50-day moving average of $58.35 and a 200-day moving average of $57.00. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $39.88 and a 1 year high of $61.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $70.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.55, a P/E/G ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 0.66.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.05. Williams Companies had a net margin of 21.17% and a return on equity of 15.85%. The company had revenue of $3.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.90 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.59 EPS. The business's revenue was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders 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 yield of 3.46%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. Williams Companies's payout ratio is 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.