The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Acquires 32,922 Shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 1,306,551 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 32,922 shares during the quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $59,644,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of WMB. SouthState Corp bought a new position in Williams Companies in the second quarter valued at about $31,000. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton grew its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 50.4% during the 3rd quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 752 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 252 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP acquired a new position in Williams Companies during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $35,000. Finally, Kimelman & Baird LLC bought a new position in Williams Companies in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on WMB shares. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Citigroup boosted their price target on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Morgan Stanley raised Williams Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $52.00 to $58.00 in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $51.79.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Shares of Williams Companies stock opened at $58.14 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $70.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.53, a PEG ratio of 6.01 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a current ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $52.12 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $46.08. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1-year low of $32.65 and a 1-year high of $60.36.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.52 billion. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 15.89% and a net margin of 27.36%. The firm’s revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.45 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.92 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.475 per share. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.27%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 80.17%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Williams Companies news, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 7,951 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The stock was 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.29, for a total value of $90,580.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 304,200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,777,218. This represents a 0.65 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

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.