Exchange Traded Concepts LLC Trims Stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Exchange Traded Concepts LLC trimmed its position in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 4.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 951,813 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 45,732 shares during the period. Williams Companies comprises 1.0% of Exchange Traded Concepts LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 11th biggest holding. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC owned approximately 0.08% of Williams Companies worth $51,512,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WMB. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Williams Companies by 19.0% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 35,734,666 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,631,288,000 after buying an additional 5,697,605 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of 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 worth $1,398,004,000 after acquiring an additional 520,663 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 0.9% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,239,210 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $330,470,000 after acquiring an additional 67,016 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank raised its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 0.3% during the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 3,617,300 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $165,130,000 after acquiring an additional 9,800 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC grew its stake in Williams Companies by 3.4% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 3,271,141 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $149,326,000 after purchasing an additional 108,675 shares in the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WMB opened at $59.82 on Friday. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $32.65 and a fifty-two week high of $61.46. The company has a market cap of $72.92 billion, a PE ratio of 25.24, a P/E/G ratio of 5.31 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a current ratio of 0.57. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $56.33 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $50.12.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analysts’ expectations of $2.52 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.45 EPS. Williams Companies’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th were paid a $0.475 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.18%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 80.17%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 7,951 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.30, for a total value of $447,641.30. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 25,858 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,455,805.40. This represents a 23.52 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. UBS Group upped their target price on Williams Companies from $55.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Scotiabank reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $51.00 target price on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $46.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Williams Companies presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $53.00.

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.