Strs Ohio Increases Position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Strs Ohio grew its holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 37.3% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 58,418 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after acquiring an additional 15,872 shares during the period. Strs Ohio’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $2,034,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 96,588.4% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 63,423,739 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $2,086,641,000 after purchasing an additional 63,358,143 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the 4th quarter worth $292,176,000. Royal Bank of Canada raised its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 85.8% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 16,352,215 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $546,327,000 after acquiring an additional 7,551,749 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 200.1% during the 2nd quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,286,535 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $164,993,000 after acquiring an additional 3,525,097 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 35.1% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 9,553,779 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $321,867,000 after purchasing an additional 2,482,331 shares during the period. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Wolfe Research reiterated an “underperform” rating and issued a $34.00 target price on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Thursday. Truist Financial increased their price objective on Williams Companies from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 25th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Williams Companies from $43.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on Williams Companies from $37.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $38.90.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Shares of Williams Companies stock opened at $38.53 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $46.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.88 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.73. The business has a 50-day moving average of $36.95 and a 200 day moving average of $35.68. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12 month low of $28.27 and a 12 month high of $39.76.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The pipeline company reported $0.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.01. Williams Companies had a net margin of 29.22% and a return on equity of 16.20%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.53 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.83 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a $0.475 dividend. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.93%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 72.52%.

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.