First Horizon Advisors Inc. Increases Holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 15.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,301 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after acquiring an additional 823 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $219,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings 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 buying an additional 2,482,331 shares in the last quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. increased its holdings in Williams Companies by 45.3% in the 3rd quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 6,545,151 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $220,506,000 after acquiring an additional 2,040,993 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $165,106,000 after purchasing an additional 1,740,677 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC grew its position in shares of Williams Companies by 69.2% during the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 4,105,754 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $143,003,000 after purchasing an additional 1,679,452 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Epoch Investment Partners Inc. grew its position in shares of Williams Companies by 292.5% during the third quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 1,712,038 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $57,679,000 after purchasing an additional 1,275,872 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on WMB. Wolfe Research reiterated an “underperform” rating and issued a $34.00 target price on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Truist Financial upped their price objective on Williams Companies from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 25th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $37.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. US Capital Advisors downgraded shares of Williams Companies from an “overweight” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $43.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $39.22.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Williams Companies stock opened at $38.67 on Monday. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12-month low of $28.27 and a 12-month high of $39.76. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $37.85 and a 200-day moving average price of $36.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $47.12 billion, a PE ratio of 14.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.07 and a beta of 1.05.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 14th. The pipeline company reported $0.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.01. Williams Companies had a net margin of 29.22% and a return on equity of 16.20%. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.53 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.82 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 7th will be given a $0.475 dividend. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 7th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 72.52%.

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.