Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC Trims Stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC trimmed its position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 46.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 61,751 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 52,996 shares during the quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $3,342,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA lifted its stake in Williams Companies by 147.1% in the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 1,906,740 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $103,193,000 after acquiring an additional 1,135,195 shares during the period. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 675.4% in the 4th quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 3,032 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $164,000 after purchasing an additional 2,641 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $575,103,000. Blair William & Co. IL increased its holdings in Williams Companies by 24.8% during the fourth quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 59,121 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $3,200,000 after buying an additional 11,750 shares during the period. Finally, NEOS Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Williams Companies by 31.4% in the fourth quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC now owns 72,904 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $3,946,000 after buying an additional 17,420 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on WMB. Truist Financial lifted their price target on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. CIBC boosted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $58.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Williams Companies currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $56.07.

Insider Transactions at Williams Companies

In other news, SVP Larry C. Larsen sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.94, for a total transaction of $455,520.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 81,265 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,627,229.10. This represents a 8.96 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Chad A. Teply sold 26,000 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.46, for a total value of $1,467,960.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 133,048 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,511,890.08. This represents a 16.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 139,583 shares of company stock worth $7,563,278 over the last quarter. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WMB opened at $59.77 on Tuesday. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52 week low of $37.18 and a 52 week high of $61.67. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $57.31 and its 200 day moving average price is $54.70. The company has a quick ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67. The firm has a market cap of $72.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.66, a P/E/G ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 1.03.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The pipeline company reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47. Williams Companies had a net margin of 21.17% and a return on equity of 15.85%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is 109.29%.

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.