3,724 Shares in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) Acquired by Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC

Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC bought a new position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 3,724 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $201,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WMB. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Williams Companies by 19.0% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 35,734,666 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,631,288,000 after buying an additional 5,697,605 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in Williams Companies by 3,490.2% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,600,239 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $86,605,000 after buying an additional 1,555,667 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI grew its holdings in Williams Companies by 224.1% during the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 1,334,307 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $60,909,000 after buying an additional 922,550 shares in the last quarter. Castle Hook Partners LP grew its holdings in Williams Companies by 31.7% during the 3rd quarter. Castle Hook Partners LP now owns 2,989,278 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $136,461,000 after buying an additional 718,915 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Williams Companies by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 30,722,702 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,398,004,000 after buying an additional 520,663 shares in the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams Companies

In other Williams Companies news, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 7,951 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.30, for a total value of $447,641.30. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 25,858 shares in the company, valued at $1,455,805.40. The trade was a 23.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.44% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Bank of America assumed coverage on Williams Companies in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $55.00 target price for the company. UBS Group increased their target price 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 raised their price target on Williams Companies from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Mizuho raised their price target on Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $53.00.

Williams Companies Stock Down 2.0 %

NYSE:WMB opened at $55.43 on Friday. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a twelve month low of $32.65 and a twelve month high of $61.46. The company has a market cap of $67.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.00 and a beta of 1.06. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $56.20 and a 200-day simple moving average of $50.66. The company has a current ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.52 billion. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 15.89% and a net margin of 27.36%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.45 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.91 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is 80.17%.

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.