Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD. Has $467,000 Holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD. reduced its holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 11.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 8,620 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 1,120 shares during the quarter. Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD.’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $467,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of WMB. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 5,697,605 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 3,490.2% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,600,239 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $86,605,000 after acquiring an additional 1,555,667 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 224.1% in the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 1,334,307 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $60,909,000 after acquiring an additional 922,550 shares in the last quarter. Castle Hook Partners LP boosted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 31.7% in the 3rd quarter. Castle Hook Partners LP now owns 2,989,278 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $136,461,000 after acquiring an additional 718,915 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 520,663 shares in the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on WMB. Truist Financial upped their price objective on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. 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. UBS Group upped their price objective on Williams Companies from $55.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Barclays increased their price target on Williams Companies from $46.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on Williams Companies from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $54.21.

Williams Companies Price Performance

WMB opened at $58.25 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12 month low of $35.38 and a 12 month high of $61.46. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $56.53 and a 200 day simple moving average of $52.73. The stock has a market cap of $71.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.83, a P/E/G ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 1.04.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The pipeline company reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47. Williams Companies had a net margin of 21.17% and a return on equity of 15.85%. On average, research analysts expect that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is 109.29%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Chad A. Teply sold 26,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.46, for a total transaction of $1,467,960.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 133,048 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,511,890.08. This represents a 16.35 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 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.