Teacher Retirement System of Texas Buys 149,119 Shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Teacher Retirement System of Texas grew its stake in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 127.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 265,747 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after acquiring an additional 149,119 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in Williams Companies were worth $14,382,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of WMB. Quest Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the third quarter valued at approximately $116,000. Prospera Financial Services Inc raised its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 7.2% during the third quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc now owns 13,714 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $626,000 after acquiring an additional 917 shares in the last quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG bought a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the third quarter valued at approximately $2,190,000. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC bought a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the third quarter valued at approximately $2,516,000. Finally, Commerce Bank raised its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 5.0% during the third quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 69,511 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $3,173,000 after acquiring an additional 3,280 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on WMB. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. 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. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Williams Companies currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $55.21.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams Companies

In other Williams Companies news, COO Micheal G. Dunn sold 96,687 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.04, for a total value of $5,128,278.48. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 714,693 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $37,907,316.72. This represents a 11.92 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Chad A. Teply sold 26,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The shares were 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 directly owns 133,048 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,511,890.08. The trade was a 16.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 139,583 shares of company stock valued at $7,563,278. 0.44% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Shares of WMB opened at $59.60 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $72.67 billion, a PE ratio of 32.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 0.50 and a quick ratio of 0.45. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1-year low of $37.18 and a 1-year high of $61.46. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $57.09 and its 200-day moving average price is $53.93.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The pipeline company reported $0.47 earnings per share 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%. On average, equities research analysts predict that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.36%. This is a positive change from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.