Fisher Funds Management LTD Makes New $18.04 Million Investment in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Fisher Funds Management LTD purchased a new position in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 333,234 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,036,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 132.3% in the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 146,247 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $6,676,000 after buying an additional 83,300 shares in the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 8.2% in the third quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 106,170 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $4,847,000 after buying an additional 8,015 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 494.7% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 394,161 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $17,993,000 after buying an additional 327,877 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 36.4% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 44,572 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $2,035,000 after buying an additional 11,887 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ballentine Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 6.8% in the third quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 26,650 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,217,000 after buying an additional 1,690 shares in the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WMB has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Scotiabank reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $51.00 target price on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Mizuho increased their target price on Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Williams Companies from $55.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Barclays raised their price objective on Williams Companies from $46.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Williams Companies has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $53.29.

Williams Companies Trading Down 1.7 %

NYSE:WMB opened at $57.44 on Friday. 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 business’s 50 day moving average is $56.15 and its two-hundred day moving average is $52.25. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52 week low of $34.26 and a 52 week high of $61.46. The company has a market cap of $70.01 billion, a PE ratio of 31.39, a P/E/G ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 1.04.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The pipeline company reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, hitting 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 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. This is an increase from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.48%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 103.83%.

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.