BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp Grows Position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp boosted its stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 60.7% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 233,388 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 88,147 shares during the quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $9,919,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of WMB. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC grew its position in Williams Companies by 15.7% in the first quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 108,302 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $4,221,000 after acquiring an additional 14,672 shares in the last quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S increased its position in shares of Williams Companies by 145.5% during the 1st quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 95,359 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $3,716,000 after purchasing an additional 56,509 shares during the last quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 24.5% during the 4th quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,636,222 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $91,820,000 after buying an additional 518,009 shares in the last quarter. Chickasaw Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Williams Companies by 3.5% in the 1st quarter. Chickasaw Capital Management LLC now owns 1,644,620 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $64,091,000 after buying an additional 56,013 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mediolanum International Funds Ltd purchased a new stake in Williams Companies in the first quarter worth approximately $2,364,000. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

WMB stock opened at $45.50 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $55.45 billion, a PE ratio of 19.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.32 and a beta of 1.05. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $44.20 and its 200 day simple moving average is $41.52. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12-month low of $32.49 and a 12-month high of $46.48. The company has a current ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.05. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 16.17% and a net margin of 27.11%. The company had revenue of $2.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.46 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.42 earnings per share. Williams Companies’s revenue was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.475 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.18%. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is 79.83%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on WMB shares. StockNews.com lowered shares of Williams Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Seaport Res Ptn cut Williams Companies from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Wells Fargo & Company raised Williams Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $38.00 to $46.00 in a research note on Tuesday, June 4th. Truist Financial lifted their price target on Williams Companies from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. Finally, 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Williams Companies currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $43.50.

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.