The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) Shares Bought by Conning Inc.

Conning Inc. grew its stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 5.0% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 27,994 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,328 shares during the period. Conning Inc.’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $1,515,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Atomi Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 34.0% during the third quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 12,301 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $562,000 after purchasing an additional 3,121 shares during the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management boosted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 38.0% in the 3rd quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 12,082 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $552,000 after purchasing an additional 3,327 shares during the period. Wedmont Private Capital grew its stake in Williams Companies by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 19,192 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $953,000 after buying an additional 717 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. increased its position in Williams Companies by 3.2% during the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 14,255 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $651,000 after buying an additional 441 shares during the period. Finally, Independence Bank of Kentucky increased its position in Williams Companies by 20.4% during the third quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 25,045 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,143,000 after buying an additional 4,248 shares during the period. 86.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on WMB. Bank of America began coverage on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $55.00 target price on the stock. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $55.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective 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. Truist Financial increased their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, CIBC boosted their price target on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. One equities research 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $53.00.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

NYSE WMB opened at $55.93 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $55.96 and a 200 day moving average price of $51.11. The company has a market capitalization of $68.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.60, a PEG ratio of 5.06 and a beta of 1.04. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1-year low of $32.65 and a 1-year 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 quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.01. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 15.89% and a net margin of 27.36%. The business had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.52 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.45 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. 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 3.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is currently 80.17%.

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.