The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) Stock Holdings Lessened by Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd.

Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. cut its stake in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 0.3% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 387,146 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 977 shares during the quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $20,952,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 675.4% in the 4th quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 3,032 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $164,000 after purchasing an additional 2,641 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Williams Companies during the fourth quarter valued at about $575,103,000. Blair William & Co. IL boosted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 24.8% in the fourth quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 59,121 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $3,200,000 after buying an additional 11,750 shares during the period. NEOS Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Williams Companies by 31.4% in the fourth quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC now owns 72,904 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $3,946,000 after acquiring an additional 17,420 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UniSuper Management Pty Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 16.9% during the fourth quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 87,805 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $4,752,000 after acquiring an additional 12,684 shares during the period. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Williams Companies

In other Williams Companies news, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 8,896 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.50, for a total value of $511,520.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 22,339 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,284,492.50. This represents a 28.48 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Chad A. Teply sold 26,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.46, for a total transaction of $1,467,960.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 133,048 shares in the company, valued at $7,511,890.08. This represents a 16.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 139,583 shares of company stock worth $7,563,278 in the last 90 days. 0.44% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WMB has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Williams Companies from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Truist Financial lifted their target price on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $58.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $56.07.

Williams Companies Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of Williams Companies stock opened at $59.24 on Friday. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12-month low of $37.18 and a 12-month high of $61.67. The company has a quick ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $57.30 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $54.53. The stock has a market capitalization of $72.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.37, a PEG ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 1.03.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The pipeline company reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47. Williams Companies had a net margin of 21.17% and a return on equity of 15.85%. Equities analysts expect that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is currently 109.29%.

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.