FUKOKU MUTUAL LIFE INSURANCE Co Purchases 3,300 Shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

FUKOKU MUTUAL LIFE INSURANCE Co boosted its stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 53.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 9,420 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,300 shares during the period. FUKOKU MUTUAL LIFE INSURANCE Co’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $510,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. New York Life Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC now owns 180,825 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $9,786,000 after buying an additional 512 shares during the last quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the 4th quarter worth approximately $170,000. NewEdge Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 4.6% in the 4th quarter. NewEdge Wealth LLC now owns 97,818 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $5,294,000 after acquiring an additional 4,274 shares during the last quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC raised its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 22,822 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,235,000 after acquiring an additional 366 shares during the period. Finally, National Pension Service boosted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 13.8% during the fourth quarter. National Pension Service now owns 2,708,093 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $146,562,000 after purchasing an additional 328,516 shares during the period. 86.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WMB has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Citigroup raised 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. Scotiabank restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $51.00 price objective on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Friday, January 10th. Truist Financial increased their price target on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $55.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $54.21.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Shares of WMB stock opened at $56.93 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $56.36 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $52.53. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12 month low of $34.54 and a 12 month high of $61.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $69.40 billion, a PE ratio of 31.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a current ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The pipeline company reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47. Williams Companies had a net margin of 21.17% and a return on equity of 15.85%. Analysts forecast that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.51%. This is a boost from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 109.29%.

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.