Quantbot Technologies LP Buys Shares of 38,099 The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 38,099 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,062,000.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in Williams Companies by 19.0% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 35,734,666 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,631,288,000 after acquiring an additional 5,697,605 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Williams Companies by 1.7% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 30,722,702 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,398,004,000 after acquiring an additional 520,663 shares in the last quarter. Amundi boosted its holdings in Williams Companies by 28.8% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 8,781,963 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $495,215,000 after acquiring an additional 1,964,421 shares in the last quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. boosted its holdings in Williams Companies by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 8,425,933 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $456,012,000 after acquiring an additional 234,423 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Williams Companies by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,405,951 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $400,810,000 after acquiring an additional 166,741 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE:WMB opened at $59.60 on Monday. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12-month low of $37.18 and a 12-month high of $61.46. The company has a market capitalization of $72.67 billion, a PE ratio of 32.57, a PEG ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 1.03. The business has a 50 day moving average of $57.09 and a two-hundred day moving average of $54.05. 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 announced its quarterly earnings results 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%. As a group, analysts forecast that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.36%. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is 109.29%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Larry C. Larsen sold 8,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 81,265 shares in the company, valued at $4,627,229.10. The trade was a 8.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, COO Micheal G. Dunn sold 96,687 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.04, for a total value of $5,128,278.48. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 714,693 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $37,907,316.72. This trade represents a 11.92 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 139,583 shares of company stock worth $7,563,278 over the last three months. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Scotiabank raised their price target on Williams Companies from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, March 6th. CIBC lifted their target price on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Williams Companies from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their target price on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $55.21.

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.