Allstate Corp Acquires New Holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Allstate Corp bought a new position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor bought 36,172 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,958,000.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new position in Williams Companies in the 3rd quarter valued at $116,000. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in Williams Companies by 10.1% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,650,492 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $120,995,000 after acquiring an additional 243,302 shares during the period. Glenmede Trust Co. NA grew its position in shares of Williams Companies by 0.6% in the third quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA now owns 175,294 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $8,002,000 after purchasing an additional 1,012 shares during the last quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 103.1% in the third quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 24,915 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,137,000 after purchasing an additional 12,647 shares during the period. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 7.3% during the 3rd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 551,136 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $25,159,000 after purchasing an additional 37,379 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have issued reports on WMB shares. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Williams Companies from $58.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 25th. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. CIBC raised their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Scotiabank increased their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $56.07.

Insider Activity at Williams Companies

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Larry C. Larsen sold 8,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.94, for a total value of $455,520.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 81,265 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,627,229.10. This trade represents a 8.96 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Micheal G. Dunn sold 96,687 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.04, for a total transaction of $5,128,278.48. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 714,693 shares in the company, valued at $37,907,316.72. The trade was a 11.92 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 139,583 shares of company stock valued at $7,563,278 over the last ninety days. 0.44% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Williams Companies Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of WMB stock opened at $59.24 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $72.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.37, a P/E/G ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 1.03. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12-month low of $37.18 and a 12-month high of $61.67. 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 firm has a 50-day moving average price of $57.30 and a 200 day moving average price of $54.53.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The pipeline company reported $0.47 earnings per share (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%. Research analysts forecast that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.38%. The ex-dividend date 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 presently 109.29%.

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.