World Investment Advisors Has $1.22 Million Holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

World Investment Advisors raised its stake in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 89.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 22,600 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,671 shares during the period. World Investment Advisors’ holdings in Williams Companies were worth $1,223,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Cinctive Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $36,808,000. Private Portfolio Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Williams Companies by 28.0% during the 4th quarter. Private Portfolio Partners LLC now owns 9,531 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $516,000 after acquiring an additional 2,086 shares during the last quarter. Trexquant Investment LP bought a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the 4th quarter worth $5,578,000. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the fourth quarter valued at about $96,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 31,263,235 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,687,797,000 after purchasing an additional 540,533 shares in the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WMB has been the subject of several analyst reports. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Williams Companies from $58.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 25th. Truist Financial upped their price objective on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Barclays lifted their target price on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Finally, CIBC increased their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. One 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $56.07.

Williams Companies Stock Down 7.5 %

Williams Companies stock opened at $54.61 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $66.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.84, a P/E/G ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 0.87. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $57.25 and a 200 day simple moving average of $55.02. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1-year low of $37.18 and a 1-year high of $61.67. The company has a current ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67.

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

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.66%. This is an increase from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 109.29%.

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.