LGT Group Foundation Decreases Holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

LGT Group Foundation trimmed its holdings in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 7.5% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 45,989 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 3,741 shares during the quarter. LGT Group Foundation’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $1,606,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Rheos Capital Works Inc. raised its position in shares of Williams Companies by 59.0% during the 4th quarter. Rheos Capital Works Inc. now owns 660,000 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $22,988,000 after buying an additional 245,000 shares in the last quarter. Autumn Glory Partners LLC lifted its stake in Williams Companies by 28.1% in the third quarter. Autumn Glory Partners LLC now owns 107,609 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $3,625,000 after purchasing an additional 23,579 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake 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 worth $321,867,000 after purchasing an additional 2,482,331 shares during the last quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. lifted its stake in Williams Companies by 45.3% in the third quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 6,545,151 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $220,506,000 after purchasing an additional 2,040,993 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Williams Companies by 3,338.2% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 352,104 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $12,264,000 after purchasing an additional 341,863 shares during the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $43.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Wolfe Research reissued an “underperform” rating and issued a $34.00 price objective on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 25th. US Capital Advisors downgraded shares of Williams Companies from an “overweight” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $37.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $39.22.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:WMB opened at $38.67 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $47.12 billion, a PE ratio of 14.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.05 and a beta of 1.05. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $37.77 and its 200-day simple moving average is $35.98. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a one year low of $28.27 and a one year high of $39.76. 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 issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The pipeline company reported $0.48 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.82 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 24th. Investors of record on Friday, June 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.475 per share. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.91%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 7th. 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.