Signaturefd LLC Purchases 774 Shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Signaturefd LLC grew its position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 3.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 25,363 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 774 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $883,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Morgan Stanley increased its stake in Williams Companies by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 19,086,234 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $643,015,000 after buying an additional 712,048 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 8.1% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 14,455,063 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $486,991,000 after buying an additional 1,089,150 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its position in shares of Williams Companies by 7.3% during the third quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 13,628,627 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $459,148,000 after purchasing an additional 921,537 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 11,301,527 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $380,748,000 after buying an additional 68,674 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in 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.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WMB has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $37.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 25th. Wolfe Research restated an “underperform” rating and issued a $34.00 price target on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on Williams Companies from $43.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $39.22.

Williams Companies Price Performance

NYSE:WMB opened at $38.66 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $37.03 and its 200 day simple moving average is $35.76. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52 week low of $28.27 and a 52 week high of $39.76. The firm has a market cap of $47.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.76, a P/E/G ratio of 6.02 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 0.77.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The pipeline company reported $0.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 last year, the firm earned $0.53 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.83 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were given a $0.475 dividend. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.91%. Williams Companies’s payout ratio 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.