New York State Common Retirement Fund Reduces Holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

New York State Common Retirement Fund cut its stake in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 11.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 973,926 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 127,578 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $33,922,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of WMB. Rheos Capital Works Inc. raised its position in Williams Companies by 59.0% during the 4th quarter. Rheos Capital Works Inc. now owns 660,000 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $22,988,000 after purchasing an additional 245,000 shares during the last quarter. Autumn Glory Partners LLC raised its position in Williams Companies by 28.1% during the 3rd quarter. Autumn Glory Partners LLC now owns 107,609 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $3,625,000 after purchasing an additional 23,579 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in Williams Companies by 35.1% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 9,553,779 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $321,867,000 after purchasing an additional 2,482,331 shares during the last quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. raised its position in Williams Companies by 45.3% during the 3rd quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 6,545,151 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $220,506,000 after purchasing an additional 2,040,993 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in Williams Companies by 3,338.2% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 352,104 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $12,264,000 after purchasing an additional 341,863 shares during the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Williams Companies Stock Up 0.5 %

WMB stock opened at $39.45 on Friday. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a twelve month low of $28.27 and a twelve month high of $39.76. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57. The firm has a market cap of $48.07 billion, a PE ratio of 15.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.14 and a beta of 1.05. The business has a 50 day moving average of $37.35 and a 200 day moving average of $35.85.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 14th. The pipeline company reported $0.48 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.01. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 16.20% and a net margin of 29.22%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.53 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $0.475 per share. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.82%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is 72.52%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on WMB. Wolfe Research reissued an “underperform” rating and issued a $34.00 target price on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Barclays increased their target price on Williams Companies from $37.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Truist Financial increased their target price on Williams Companies from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 25th. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on Williams Companies from $43.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Williams Companies currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $39.22.

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.