Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Decreases Stock Holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP reduced its position in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 7.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 8,452,007 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 693,000 shares during the quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned about 0.69% of Williams Companies worth $457,427,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of WMB. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Williams Companies by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 130,356,165 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $7,054,876,000 after purchasing an additional 1,008,213 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Williams Companies by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 31,263,235 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,687,797,000 after buying an additional 540,533 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Williams Companies during the fourth quarter valued at $575,103,000. Amundi raised its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 28.8% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 8,781,963 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $495,215,000 after acquiring an additional 1,964,421 shares during the period. Finally, Bahl & Gaynor Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 8,425,933 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $456,012,000 after acquiring an additional 234,423 shares during the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Scotiabank increased their price target on Williams Companies from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Williams Companies from $58.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 25th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Williams Companies from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $57.77.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Shares of Williams Companies stock opened at $58.49 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $71.32 billion, a PE ratio of 31.96, a P/E/G ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $57.43 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $55.86. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a one year low of $37.69 and a one year high of $61.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.50.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The pipeline company reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, hitting 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 fiscal year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.42%. This is an increase from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is 109.29%.

Insider Activity at Williams Companies

In other news, COO Micheal G. Dunn sold 96,687 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.04, for a total transaction of $5,128,278.48. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 714,693 shares in the company, valued at $37,907,316.72. This represents a 11.92 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Chad A. Teply sold 26,000 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction that occurred 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $7,511,890.08. This trade represents a 16.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 139,583 shares of company stock valued at $7,563,278 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

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.