Horizon Kinetics Asset Management LLC Reduces Holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Horizon Kinetics Asset Management LLC cut its position in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 2.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 172,890 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 4,395 shares during the quarter. Horizon Kinetics Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $9,357,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Williams Companies by 19.0% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 35,734,666 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,631,288,000 after purchasing an additional 5,697,605 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Williams Companies by 1.7% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 30,722,702 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,398,004,000 after purchasing an additional 520,663 shares during the period. Amundi raised its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 28.8% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 8,781,963 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $495,215,000 after buying an additional 1,964,421 shares during the period. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. grew its stake in Williams Companies by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 8,425,933 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $456,012,000 after purchasing an additional 234,423 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Williams Companies by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,405,951 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $400,810,000 after purchasing an additional 166,741 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Chad A. Teply sold 26,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.46, for a total transaction of $1,467,960.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 133,048 shares in the company, valued at $7,511,890.08. The trade was a 16.35 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Larry C. Larsen sold 8,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.94, for a total value of $455,520.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 81,265 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,627,229.10. The trade was a 8.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 139,583 shares of company stock worth $7,563,278 over the last three months. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Williams Companies from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. CIBC lifted their price objective on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Williams Companies from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Truist Financial boosted their target price on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, 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 report on Friday, January 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Williams Companies has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $55.07.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Shares of WMB stock opened at $57.33 on Monday. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52 week low of $36.84 and a 52 week high of $61.46. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $56.78 and a 200-day moving average of $53.57. The company has a quick ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67. The company has a market cap of $69.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 1.03.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced 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 return on equity of 15.85% and a net margin of 21.17%. On average, equities analysts forecast that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. This is an increase from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.49%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is 109.29%.

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.