Fisher Asset Management LLC Invests $322,000 in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Fisher Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund acquired 9,238 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $322,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Williams Companies during the 4th quarter worth $306,417,000. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position 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 purchasing an additional 2,482,331 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its position in Williams Companies by 69.2% during the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 4,105,754 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $143,003,000 after purchasing an additional 1,679,452 shares during the period. First Financial Bankshares Inc purchased a new stake in Williams Companies during the 4th quarter worth $56,223,000. Finally, Morningstar Investment Services LLC boosted its position in Williams Companies by 3,821.2% during the 4th quarter. Morningstar Investment Services LLC now owns 1,579,718 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $55,180,000 after purchasing an additional 1,539,431 shares during the period. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Williams Companies Stock Up 2.5 %

Shares of Williams Companies stock opened at $43.11 on Tuesday. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a twelve month low of $30.59 and a twelve month high of $43.20. The stock has a market capitalization of $52.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.11, a PEG ratio of 6.65 and a beta of 1.05. 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 business’s 50 day simple moving average is $40.24 and its 200-day simple moving average is $37.38.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its 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. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 16.27% and a net margin of 27.29%. The company had revenue of $2.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.69 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.56 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 7th were paid a dividend of $0.475 per share. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.41%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 7th. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is 79.83%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently weighed in on WMB shares. CIBC upped their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. Argus raised shares of Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 20th. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th. Wolfe Research reissued an “underperform” rating and issued a $34.00 price objective on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Williams Companies presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $41.42.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams Companies

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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 60,410 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,392,840.10. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.