Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado Trims Stock Holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado lowered its holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 6.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 171,839 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 11,677 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $6,697,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its stake in Williams Companies by 5.9% during the first quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 20,983,727 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $817,736,000 after buying an additional 1,175,628 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in Williams Companies by 21.3% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 11,593,482 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $403,801,000 after buying an additional 2,039,703 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Williams Companies during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $306,417,000. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP raised its stake in Williams Companies by 13.4% during the first quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP now owns 8,540,611 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $332,828,000 after buying an additional 1,010,658 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James & Associates raised its stake in Williams Companies by 0.7% during the first quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 8,421,205 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $328,174,000 after buying an additional 55,248 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WMB has been the topic of a number of research reports. Barclays increased their price target on Williams Companies from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 12th. Wolfe Research reiterated an “underperform” rating and set a $34.00 price target on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Truist Financial increased their price objective on Williams Companies from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, June 10th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Williams Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $41.77.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:WMB traded up $0.30 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $42.82. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,862,012 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,554,125. The stock has a market capitalization of $52.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.87, a PEG ratio of 6.68 and a beta of 1.05. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $41.98 and its 200 day simple moving average is $38.67. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $32.49 and a fifty-two week high of $45.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.52.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released its earnings results 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. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 16.27% and a net margin of 27.29%. The business had revenue of $2.77 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.69 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.56 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 24th. Investors of record on Friday, June 7th were given a dividend of $0.475 per share. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 7th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 79.83%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Debbie L. Pickle sold 38,200 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.61, for a total transaction of $1,513,102.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 60,410 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,392,840.10. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.44% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.