The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) Shares Sold by Forte Capital LLC ADV

Forte Capital LLC ADV cut its stake in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 1.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 70,216 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 859 shares during the period. Forte Capital LLC ADV’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $3,800,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on WMB shares. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $46.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Scotiabank reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $51.00 target price on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Friday, January 10th. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $55.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $53.29.

Williams Companies Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of WMB stock opened at $58.46 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 0.50 and a quick ratio of 0.45. The firm has a market cap of $71.27 billion, a PE ratio of 31.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.00 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a 50-day moving average of $56.09 and a two-hundred day moving average of $52.07. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1-year low of $34.13 and a 1-year high of $61.46.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The pipeline company reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.47. Williams Companies had a net margin of 21.17% and a return on equity of 15.85%. On average, analysts predict that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 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 dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.42%. 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 103.83%.

Williams Companies 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.