Asset Management One Co. Ltd. Lowers Stock Holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Asset Management One Co. Ltd. lowered its holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 3.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 525,545 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 20,936 shares during the period. Asset Management One Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $28,348,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in WMB. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in Williams Companies by 19.0% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 35,734,666 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,631,288,000 after acquiring an additional 5,697,605 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Williams Companies by 1.7% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 30,722,702 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,398,004,000 after acquiring an additional 520,663 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Williams Companies by 0.9% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,239,210 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $330,470,000 after acquiring an additional 67,016 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank grew its position in Williams Companies by 0.3% during the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 3,617,300 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $165,130,000 after acquiring an additional 9,800 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC grew its position in Williams Companies by 3.4% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 3,271,141 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $149,326,000 after acquiring an additional 108,675 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of Williams Companies stock opened at $57.00 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 0.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67. The firm has a market cap of $69.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.05, a P/E/G ratio of 5.06 and a beta of 1.04. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $33.03 and a fifty-two week high of $61.46. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $55.85 and a 200 day moving average price of $51.55.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The pipeline company reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.47. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 15.89% and a net margin of 27.36%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. This is a positive change from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.51%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is currently 80.17%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WMB has been the subject of a number of research reports. UBS Group boosted their price target on Williams Companies from $55.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. Mizuho boosted their price objective on Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Scotiabank restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $51.00 price objective on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on Williams Companies from $46.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Williams Companies has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $53.29.

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.