M&G Investment Management Ltd. Purchases Shares of 32,225 The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

M&G Investment Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 32,225 shares of the pipeline company's stock, valued at approximately $1,128,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Williams Companies in the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. CGC Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the 4th quarter worth approximately $35,000. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new position in Williams Companies in the third quarter valued at approximately $41,000. CVA Family Office LLC bought a new position in Williams Companies during the fourth quarter valued at $52,000. Finally, JNBA Financial Advisors increased its position in Williams Companies by 37.3% in the third quarter. JNBA Financial Advisors now owns 1,730 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $58,000 after buying an additional 470 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on WMB. US Capital Advisors cut Williams Companies from an "overweight" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, March 25th. UBS Group upped their price target 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. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $37.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 10th. Finally, Wolfe Research reaffirmed an "underperform" rating and issued a $34.00 price target on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Thursday, April 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $39.42.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Debbie L. Pickle sold 38,200 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.61, for a total transaction of $1,513,102.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 60,410 shares in the company, valued at $2,392,840.10. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.44% of the company's stock.

Williams Companies Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE:WMB traded up $0.48 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $40.95. 7,291,065 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,929,342. The company has a quick ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $49.91 billion, a PE ratio of 17.00, a P/E/G ratio of 6.13 and a beta of 1.05. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a one year low of $28.27 and a one year high of $41.12. The business's 50 day moving average is $38.45 and its two-hundred day moving average is $36.27.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $2.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.69 billion. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 16.27% and a net margin of 27.29%. The business's quarterly revenue was down 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.56 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 24th. Shareholders 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 4.64%. Williams Companies's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.