ING Groep NV Buys 113,227 Shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

ING Groep NV grew its stake in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 266.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 155,694 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after acquiring an additional 113,227 shares during the period. ING Groep NV’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $8,426,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of WMB. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in Williams Companies by 6.7% in the fourth quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 30,467 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,649,000 after buying an additional 1,918 shares in the last quarter. RW Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Williams Companies in the fourth quarter worth approximately $233,000. Ieq Capital LLC raised its stake in Williams Companies by 24.0% in the fourth quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 54,307 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $2,939,000 after buying an additional 10,511 shares in the last quarter. Freedom Day Solutions LLC raised its stake in Williams Companies by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Freedom Day Solutions LLC now owns 19,646 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,063,000 after buying an additional 591 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Private Advisor Group LLC raised its stake in Williams Companies by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 108,425 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $5,868,000 after buying an additional 2,255 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WMB has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Scotiabank reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $51.00 price target on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Mizuho upped their price target on Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Truist Financial upped their price target on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on Williams Companies from $55.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $53.29.

Williams Companies Price Performance

NYSE:WMB opened at $57.44 on Friday. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a one year low of $34.26 and a one year high of $61.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.50. The firm has a market cap of $70.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.39, a PEG ratio of 5.00 and a beta of 1.04. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $56.15 and its two-hundred day moving average is $52.18.

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

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.48%. This is an increase from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is 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.