The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) Shares Acquired by Abbrea Capital LLC

Abbrea Capital LLC lifted its stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 28.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 10,958 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after buying an additional 2,455 shares during the period. Abbrea Capital LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $382,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in Williams Companies by 35.1% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 9,553,779 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $321,867,000 after acquiring an additional 2,482,331 shares during the last quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. grew its stake in Williams Companies by 45.3% during the third quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 6,545,151 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $220,506,000 after buying an additional 2,040,993 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Williams Companies by 55.1% during the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,900,745 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $165,106,000 after buying an additional 1,740,677 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 69.2% during the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 4,105,754 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $143,003,000 after buying an additional 1,679,452 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Epoch Investment Partners Inc. boosted its stake in Williams Companies by 292.5% during the 3rd quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 1,712,038 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $57,679,000 after acquiring an additional 1,275,872 shares during the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Shares of Williams Companies stock traded up $0.20 on Thursday, reaching $39.45. 3,903,249 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,018,331. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 0.77. The company’s 50-day moving average is $37.25 and its two-hundred day moving average is $35.82. The firm has a market cap of $48.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.98, a P/E/G ratio of 6.07 and a beta of 1.05. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1-year low of $28.27 and a 1-year high of $39.76.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 14th. The pipeline company reported $0.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 period last year, the business posted $0.53 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.82%. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is currently 72.52%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WMB has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Wolfe Research reissued an “underperform” rating and issued a $34.00 price objective on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Barclays raised their price objective on Williams Companies from $37.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 25th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $43.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $39.22.

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.