Jennison Associates LLC Purchases 1,679,452 Shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Jennison Associates LLC boosted its holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 69.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 4,105,754 shares of the pipeline company's stock after purchasing an additional 1,679,452 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC owned about 0.34% of Williams Companies worth $143,003,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Patten Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Williams Companies by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Patten Group Inc. now owns 23,899 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $832,000 after purchasing an additional 296 shares during the period. Insigneo Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in Williams Companies by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Insigneo Advisory Services LLC now owns 10,476 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $353,000 after buying an additional 298 shares in the last quarter. Horan Securities Inc. grew its holdings in Williams Companies by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Horan Securities Inc. now owns 11,753 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $396,000 after buying an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Graypoint LLC grew its holdings in Williams Companies by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 12,263 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $427,000 after buying an additional 307 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Valley National Advisers Inc. grew its holdings in Williams Companies by 20.8% in the 3rd quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 1,803 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $61,000 after buying an additional 310 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WMB has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Truist Financial increased their price objective on Williams Companies from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, March 25th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Williams Companies from $43.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Wolfe Research reissued an "underperform" rating and issued a $34.00 price objective on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Thursday. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on Williams Companies from $37.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $39.22.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Shares of WMB traded up $0.15 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $38.66. 5,974,688 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,100,689. The company has a market capitalization of $47.10 billion, a PE ratio of 14.76, a PEG ratio of 6.02 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.73. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $37.03 and a 200-day simple moving average of $35.76. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a one year low of $28.27 and a one year high of $39.76.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 14th. The pipeline company reported $0.48 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.01. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 16.20% and a net margin of 29.22%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.53 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.83 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $0.475 per share. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.91%. Williams Companies's dividend payout ratio is presently 72.52%.

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.