Czech National Bank Grows Stock Position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Czech National Bank increased its holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 6.4% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 264,306 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 15,997 shares during the quarter. Czech National Bank’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $14,304,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Graypoint LLC grew its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 14,781 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $800,000 after purchasing an additional 284 shares during the period. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Williams Companies by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 35,660 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,930,000 after buying an additional 872 shares during the period. Innova Wealth Partners acquired a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the fourth quarter valued at about $226,000. Diversified Trust Co raised its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 99.1% in the 4th quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 33,628 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,820,000 after acquiring an additional 16,742 shares during the period. Finally, Kozak & Associates Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 43.5% in the 4th quarter. Kozak & Associates Inc. now owns 4,056 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $230,000 after acquiring an additional 1,229 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on WMB. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Mizuho increased their target price on Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Citigroup lifted their target price on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $55.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $53.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 7,951 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.30, for a total value of $447,641.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 25,858 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,455,805.40. This represents a 23.52 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Trading Up 0.9 %

WMB opened at $56.01 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $55.85 and its 200-day simple moving average is $49.35. The company has a market cap of $68.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.63, a PEG ratio of 5.60 and a beta of 1.06. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a one year low of $32.65 and a one year high of $60.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a current ratio of 0.57.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.01. Williams Companies had a net margin of 27.36% and a return on equity of 15.89%. The company had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.52 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.45 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th were paid a $0.475 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.39%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 80.17%.

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.