Altshuler Shaham Ltd Acquires New Position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Altshuler Shaham Ltd bought a new position in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 2,612 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $141,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of WMB. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Williams Companies by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 130,356,165 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $7,054,876,000 after acquiring an additional 1,008,213 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Williams Companies by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 31,263,235 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,687,797,000 after purchasing an additional 540,533 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Williams Companies during the fourth quarter worth $575,103,000. Amundi lifted its stake in Williams Companies by 28.8% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 8,781,963 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $495,215,000 after purchasing an additional 1,964,421 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bahl & Gaynor Inc. lifted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 8,425,933 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $456,012,000 after buying an additional 234,423 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WMB has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Truist Financial lifted 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. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Williams Companies from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $58.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 25th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on Williams Companies from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. One equities 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $56.07.

Insider Transactions at Williams Companies

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

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Shares of WMB opened at $58.32 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $71.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 0.87. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $57.32 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $55.63. The company has a current ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12 month low of $37.27 and a 12 month high of $61.67.

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

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This is an increase from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.43%. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is presently 109.29%.

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.