New York State Common Retirement Fund Has $33.92 Million Stock Position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

New York State Common Retirement Fund lowered its position in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 11.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 973,926 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 127,578 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned 0.08% of Williams Companies worth $33,922,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of WMB. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in Williams Companies by 35.1% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 9,553,779 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $321,867,000 after acquiring an additional 2,482,331 shares during the last quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. raised its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 45.3% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Williams Companies by 55.1% in the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,900,745 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $165,106,000 after acquiring an additional 1,740,677 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC raised its stake in Williams Companies by 69.2% in the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 4,105,754 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $143,003,000 after acquiring an additional 1,679,452 shares during the period. Finally, Epoch Investment Partners Inc. raised its stake in Williams Companies by 292.5% in the 3rd quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 1,712,038 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $57,679,000 after acquiring an additional 1,275,872 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on WMB shares. Barclays increased their price target on Williams Companies from $37.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Wolfe Research reiterated an “underperform” rating and set a $34.00 price objective on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Williams Companies from $43.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price objective on Williams Companies from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Williams Companies has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $39.22.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

WMB opened at $39.45 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $48.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.14 and a beta of 1.05. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52-week low of $28.27 and a 52-week 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. The business’s fifty day moving average is $37.35 and its 200-day moving average is $35.85.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The pipeline company reported $0.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.01. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 16.20% and a net margin of 29.22%. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.53 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a $0.475 dividend. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.82%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 72.52%.

Williams Companies Company 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.