The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) Shares Purchased by Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC

Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 46.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 214,079 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 67,832 shares during the quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $11,962,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of WMB. Quent Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. AlphaMark Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Financial Life Planners bought a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,000. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. bought a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. UBS Group upped their price objective on Williams Companies from $55.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Mizuho upped their price objective on Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Barclays upped their price objective on Williams Companies from $46.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. CIBC upped their price objective on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $53.29.

Williams Companies Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of Williams Companies stock opened at $57.00 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 0.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67. The firm has a market cap of $69.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.06 and a beta of 1.04. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $55.85 and a 200-day simple moving average of $51.77. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $33.03 and a fifty-two week high of $61.46.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The pipeline company reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 15.89% and a net margin of 27.36%. On average, equities analysts forecast that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.50 dividend. This is a positive change from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 80.17%.

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.