The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) Shares Purchased by Maryland State Retirement & Pension System

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System boosted its stake in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 1.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 1,134,141 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after acquiring an additional 16,303 shares during the period. Williams Companies comprises about 0.8% of Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings, making the stock its 16th biggest holding. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $42,474,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the 4th quarter worth about $306,417,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake 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 worth $321,867,000 after buying an additional 2,482,331 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC raised its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 1,679,452 shares during the last quarter. First Financial Bankshares Inc purchased a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $56,223,000. Finally, Morningstar Investment Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 3,821.2% in the fourth quarter. Morningstar Investment Services LLC now owns 1,579,718 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $55,180,000 after acquiring an additional 1,539,431 shares during the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on WMB. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 10th. Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Williams Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $38.00 to $46.00 in a research note on Tuesday, June 4th. Argus raised shares of Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 20th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on Williams Companies from $37.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $41.42.

Williams Companies Trading Up 1.2 %

WMB traded up $0.50 on Thursday, hitting $42.80. The company had a trading volume of 3,176,619 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,724,086. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $40.82 and its 200 day moving average price is $37.74. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $32.20 and a 1 year high of $43.22. The company has a current ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62. The firm has a market cap of $52.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.98, a PEG ratio of 6.63 and a beta of 1.05.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $2.77 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.69 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 27.29% and a return on equity of 16.27%. The business’s revenue was down 10.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.56 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 7th were given a dividend of $0.475 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 7th. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.44%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 79.83%.

Insider Activity

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Debbie L. Pickle sold 38,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.61, for a total transaction of $1,513,102.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 60,410 shares in the company, valued at $2,392,840.10. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

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.