Artisan Partners Limited Partnership Makes New Investment in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Artisan Partners Limited Partnership bought a new stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 119,437 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,464,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in Williams Companies by 13.7% during the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 2,179,344 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $123,351,000 after purchasing an additional 262,611 shares in the last quarter. Korea Investment CORP raised its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 12.6% during the 4th quarter. Korea Investment CORP now owns 918,925 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $49,732,000 after buying an additional 102,976 shares in the last quarter. Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. lifted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. now owns 26,475 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,433,000 after buying an additional 401 shares during the last quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. boosted its stake in Williams Companies by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 33,116 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,792,000 after buying an additional 460 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TIAA Trust National Association grew its position in Williams Companies by 55.9% in the fourth quarter. TIAA Trust National Association now owns 12,781 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $692,000 after acquiring an additional 4,582 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

NYSE:WMB opened at $59.24 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.50. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $37.18 and a fifty-two week high of $61.67. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $57.30 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $54.46. The company has a market capitalization of $72.24 billion, a PE ratio of 32.37, a P/E/G ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 1.03.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The pipeline company reported $0.47 earnings per share 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 anticipate that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.38%. This is an increase from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is currently 109.29%.

Insider Activity at Williams Companies

In other news, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 8,896 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.50, for a total transaction of $511,520.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 22,339 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,284,492.50. This represents a 28.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Chad A. Teply sold 26,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.46, for a total value 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 approximately $7,511,890.08. This represents a 16.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 139,583 shares of company stock worth $7,563,278 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $58.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Truist Financial boosted their target price 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. Scotiabank increased their price target on Williams Companies from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on Williams Companies from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. One investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $56.07.

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.