USA Financial Formulas Takes $1.25 Million Position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

USA Financial Formulas acquired a new position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor acquired 23,009 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,245,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of WMB. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in shares of Williams Companies by 19.0% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 35,734,666 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,631,288,000 after acquiring an additional 5,697,605 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in Williams Companies by 3,490.2% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,600,239 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $86,605,000 after purchasing an additional 1,555,667 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI increased its position in Williams Companies by 224.1% in the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 1,334,307 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $60,909,000 after buying an additional 922,550 shares in the last quarter. Castle Hook Partners LP raised its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 31.7% in the third quarter. Castle Hook Partners LP now owns 2,989,278 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $136,461,000 after buying an additional 718,915 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 30,722,702 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,398,004,000 after buying an additional 520,663 shares in the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on WMB shares. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Scotiabank restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $51.00 target price on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Mizuho increased their price target on Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Truist Financial increased their target price on Williams Companies from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $53.00.

Williams Companies Price Performance

NYSE:WMB opened at $57.95 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $70.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.45, a PEG ratio of 5.36 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 0.57 and a quick ratio of 0.51. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $55.95 and a 200-day simple moving average of $49.46. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $32.65 and a 1 year high of $60.36.

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

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th were given a $0.475 dividend. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 80.17%.

Insider Activity

In other Williams Companies news, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 7,951 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.30, for a total value of $447,641.30. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 25,858 shares in the company, valued at $1,455,805.40. This trade represents a 23.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

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.