Corebridge Financial Inc. Purchases 25,598 Shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Corebridge Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 8.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 331,318 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after buying an additional 25,598 shares during the period. Corebridge Financial Inc.’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $17,931,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in WMB. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 130,356,165 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $7,054,876,000 after acquiring an additional 1,008,213 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position 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 last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Williams Companies by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 30,722,702 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,398,004,000 after buying an additional 520,663 shares in the last quarter. Amundi increased its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 28.8% in the 4th 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 last quarter. Finally, Bahl & Gaynor Inc. raised its position in shares of Williams Companies by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 8,425,933 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $456,012,000 after buying an additional 234,423 shares in the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on WMB. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Barclays upped their target price on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Williams Companies has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $55.21.

Williams Companies Trading Up 2.6 %

NYSE WMB opened at $61.14 on Tuesday. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12 month low of $37.18 and a 12 month high of $61.55. The company has a current ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $57.20 and its 200-day moving average price is $54.17. The stock has a market cap of $74.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.41, a P/E/G 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 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.47. Williams Companies had a net margin of 21.17% and a return on equity of 15.85%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. This is a positive change from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is presently 109.29%.

Insider Activity at Williams Companies

In other news, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 8,896 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.50, for a total value of $511,520.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 22,339 shares in the company, valued at $1,284,492.50. The trade was a 28.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Chad A. Teply sold 26,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.46, for a total transaction of $1,467,960.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 133,048 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,511,890.08. This trade represents a 16.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 139,583 shares of company stock valued at $7,563,278. 0.44% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.