National Pension Service Acquires 37,631 Shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

National Pension Service lifted its position in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 1.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 1,998,635 shares of the pipeline company's stock after acquiring an additional 37,631 shares during the period. National Pension Service owned 0.16% of Williams Companies worth $69,612,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Rheos Capital Works Inc. grew its position in shares of Williams Companies by 59.0% during the fourth quarter. Rheos Capital Works Inc. now owns 660,000 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $22,988,000 after acquiring an additional 245,000 shares during the last quarter. Autumn Glory Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Williams Companies by 28.1% in the third quarter. Autumn Glory Partners LLC now owns 107,609 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $3,625,000 after purchasing an additional 23,579 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in Williams Companies by 35.1% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 9,553,779 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $321,867,000 after purchasing an additional 2,482,331 shares during the period. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. lifted its holdings in Williams Companies by 45.3% in the third quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 6,545,151 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $220,506,000 after purchasing an additional 2,040,993 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Williams Companies by 3,338.2% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 352,104 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $12,264,000 after purchasing an additional 341,863 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on WMB. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, March 25th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $37.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. US Capital Advisors downgraded shares of Williams Companies from an "overweight" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, April 29th. CIBC upped their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Wolfe Research reissued an "underperform" rating and issued a $34.00 price target on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Thursday, April 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $39.55.

Williams Companies Trading Up 0.7 %

WMB stock traded up $0.26 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $39.58. 6,208,759 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,962,554. The company has a market cap of $48.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.63, a P/E/G ratio of 6.13 and a beta of 1.05. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52-week low of $28.27 and a 52-week high of $39.99. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57. The stock's fifty day moving average is $38.10 and its 200-day moving average is $36.08.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Monday, May 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $2.77 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.69 billion. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 16.40% and a net margin of 27.29%. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 10.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.56 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 24th. Investors of record on Friday, June 7th will be issued a $0.475 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 7th. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.80%. Williams Companies's dividend payout ratio is currently 79.83%.

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.