Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Trims Stock Holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. reduced its stake in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 1.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,844,807 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 28,666 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $153,961,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the fourth quarter worth approximately $3,085,000. Consolidated Portfolio Review Corp purchased a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the 4th quarter valued at $230,000. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Williams Companies by 24.4% in the 4th quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 995 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $54,000 after buying an additional 195 shares during the period. Fractal Investments LLC increased its stake in Williams Companies by 27.6% in the 4th quarter. Fractal Investments LLC now owns 531,500 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $28,765,000 after buying an additional 115,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, YANKCOM Partnership bought a new stake in Williams Companies during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,639,000. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Williams Companies Price Performance

NYSE:WMB opened at $55.93 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $68.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.60, a PEG ratio of 5.06 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 0.57 and a quick ratio of 0.51. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $55.96 and a 200-day simple moving average of $51.11. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $32.65 and a 1 year high of $61.46.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.01. Williams Companies had a net margin of 27.36% and a return on equity of 15.89%. The company had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.52 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.45 earnings per share. Williams Companies’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.91 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.58%. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is currently 80.17%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Truist Financial upped their price objective on Williams Companies from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Bank of America began coverage on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $55.00 price objective for the company. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $46.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, CIBC boosted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. One research 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Williams Companies has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $53.00.

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.