California Public Employees Retirement System Has $77.03 Million Position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

California Public Employees Retirement System decreased its holdings in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 2.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,211,531 shares of the pipeline company's stock after selling 60,414 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System owned approximately 0.18% of Williams Companies worth $77,028,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its position in Williams Companies by 120.8% in the third quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 26,424 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $890,000 after acquiring an additional 153,630 shares during the last quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Williams Companies by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 23,743 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $800,000 after buying an additional 486 shares during the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC increased its position in Williams Companies by 27.2% during the third quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 9,970 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $336,000 after buying an additional 2,129 shares during the period. Occidental Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Williams Companies by 7.9% in the third quarter. Occidental Asset Management LLC now owns 59,346 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $1,999,000 after buying an additional 4,343 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Oak Thistle LLC purchased a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the third quarter worth approximately $1,096,000. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Williams Companies stock traded up $0.20 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $39.45. The stock had a trading volume of 3,903,268 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,018,331. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1-year low of $28.27 and a 1-year high of $39.76. The stock has a market capitalization of $48.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.98, a PEG ratio of 6.07 and a beta of 1.05. The stock's fifty day moving average is $37.25 and its two-hundred day moving average is $35.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.73.

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

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a $0.475 dividend. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.82%. Williams Companies's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 72.52%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on WMB. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $43.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, March 25th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $37.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Wolfe Research reaffirmed an "underperform" rating and issued a $34.00 target price on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Thursday, April 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $39.22.

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.