KBC Group NV Has $7.68 Million Stock Holdings in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB)

KBC Group NV decreased its stake in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 0.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 128,428 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 373 shares during the quarter. KBC Group NV’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $7,675,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the fourth quarter worth $575,103,000. Blackstone Inc. raised its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 36.5% during the 4th quarter. Blackstone Inc. now owns 18,954,088 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,025,795,000 after purchasing an additional 5,068,738 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP increased its holdings in Williams Companies by 2,303.2% in the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 3,517,336 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $190,358,000 after buying an additional 3,370,974 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in Williams Companies by 6,407.2% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,238,490 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $133,772,000 after acquiring an additional 2,204,090 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Castle Hook Partners LP lifted its stake in Williams Companies by 69.1% in the fourth quarter. Castle Hook Partners LP now owns 5,055,184 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $273,587,000 after acquiring an additional 2,065,906 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on WMB shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $63.00 target price on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Williams Companies from $58.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. Wolfe Research upgraded Williams Companies from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Friday, June 13th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price objective on Williams Companies from $52.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 5th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $61.25.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE WMB opened at $58.82 on Wednesday. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12 month low of $40.41 and a 12 month high of $63.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.63. The company has a market cap of $71.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.45, a P/E/G ratio of 4.64 and a beta of 0.65. The business’s 50 day moving average is $59.53 and its two-hundred day moving average is $57.72.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.05. Williams Companies had a net margin of 21.18% and a return on equity of 15.95%. The business had revenue of $3.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.90 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.59 earnings per share. Williams Companies’s revenue was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.40%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 13th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 106.95%.

About Williams Companies

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.