Geneva Partners LLC Decreases Stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Geneva Partners LLC lessened its stake in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 8.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 16,939 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 1,601 shares during the period. Geneva Partners LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $590,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of WMB. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Williams Companies by 96,588.4% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 63,423,739 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $2,086,641,000 after acquiring an additional 63,358,143 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the fourth quarter valued at about $292,176,000. Royal Bank of Canada raised its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 85.8% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 16,352,215 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $546,327,000 after purchasing an additional 7,551,749 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 200.1% during the second quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,286,535 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $164,993,000 after purchasing an additional 3,525,097 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in Williams Companies by 35.1% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 9,553,779 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $321,867,000 after buying an additional 2,482,331 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Price Performance

WMB stock traded up $0.95 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $38.53. 6,745,907 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,115,470. The company has a market cap of $46.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.89 and a beta of 1.05. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12-month low of $28.27 and a 12-month high of $39.76. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $36.95 and its 200 day moving average is $35.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.73.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The pipeline company reported $0.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 business posted $0.53 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.83 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were given a dividend of $0.475 per share. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.93%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 72.52%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $37.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $43.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Wolfe Research reiterated an “underperform” rating and set a $34.00 price objective on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Williams Companies from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Williams Companies has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $38.90.

Williams Companies 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.