KBC Group NV Has $6.97 Million Holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

KBC Group NV trimmed its holdings in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 5.2% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 128,801 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 7,045 shares during the period. KBC Group NV’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $6,970,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of WMB. Board of the Pension Protection Fund acquired a new position in Williams Companies in the 4th quarter valued at $720,000. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Williams Companies by 17.0% in the fourth quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 75,278 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $4,074,000 after purchasing an additional 10,950 shares during the last quarter. Brendel Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 0.8% in the third quarter. Brendel Financial Advisors LLC now owns 51,927 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $2,370,000 after purchasing an additional 419 shares during the period. World Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the third quarter worth about $545,000. Finally, Swiss National Bank lifted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 3,617,300 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $165,130,000 after purchasing an additional 9,800 shares during the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have commented on WMB shares. Scotiabank reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $51.00 price target on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Friday, January 10th. CIBC boosted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $55.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. One research 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $53.00.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:WMB opened at $56.55 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $68.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.31 and a beta of 1.06. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $56.27 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $50.61. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $32.65 and a fifty-two week high of $61.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 0.57 and a quick ratio of 0.51.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its 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 business had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.52 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 27.36% and a return on equity of 15.89%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.45 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. This is an increase from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is presently 84.39%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Williams Companies news, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 7,951 shares of the business’s 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 25,858 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,455,805.40. The trade was a 23.52 % 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 hyperlink. 0.44% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Williams Companies Company 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.