Invesco Ltd. Cuts Position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Invesco Ltd. trimmed its holdings in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 1.0% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 13,217,487 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 134,017 shares during the quarter. Invesco Ltd.’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $715,330,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. EP Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Williams Companies by 52.5% during the 3rd quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 17,706 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $808,000 after purchasing an additional 6,099 shares during the period. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the third quarter worth about $30,000. MML Investors Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 21.7% during the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 203,206 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $9,276,000 after purchasing an additional 36,213 shares in the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 2.5% in the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 388,123 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $17,718,000 after buying an additional 9,471 shares during the period. Finally, Groupama Asset Managment grew its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 37.4% in the third quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 79,315 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $3,621,000 after buying an additional 21,585 shares in the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on WMB. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Williams Companies from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. CIBC lifted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Williams Companies presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $56.07.

Williams Companies Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE WMB opened at $54.79 on Tuesday. 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 stock’s 50 day moving average price is $57.25 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $55.16. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52-week low of $37.18 and a 52-week high of $61.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $66.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.94, a PEG ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 0.87.

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

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The firm 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.65%. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is 109.29%.

Insider Activity at Williams Companies

In related news, COO Micheal G. Dunn sold 96,687 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.04, for a total transaction of $5,128,278.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 714,693 shares in the company, valued at $37,907,316.72. The trade was a 11.92 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Larry C. Larsen sold 8,000 shares of the company’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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 139,583 shares of company stock valued at $7,563,278 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

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.