California Public Employees Retirement System Sells 60,414 Shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

California Public Employees Retirement System reduced its stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 2.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,211,531 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 60,414 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System owned 0.18% of Williams Companies worth $77,028,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in WMB. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 120.8% during the third quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 26,424 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $890,000 after buying an additional 153,630 shares during the last quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 2.1% during the third quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 23,743 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $800,000 after buying an additional 486 shares during the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 27.2% during the third quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 9,970 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $336,000 after buying an additional 2,129 shares during the last quarter. Occidental Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 7.9% during the third quarter. Occidental Asset Management LLC now owns 59,346 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,999,000 after buying an additional 4,343 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Oak Thistle LLC acquired a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the third quarter valued at about $1,096,000. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Williams Companies Stock Up 1.2 %

WMB opened at $39.25 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57. The stock has a market cap of $47.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.98, a PEG ratio of 6.07 and a beta of 1.05. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a twelve month low of $28.27 and a twelve month high of $39.76. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $37.25 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $35.82.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The pipeline company reported $0.48 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.01. Williams Companies had a net margin of 29.22% and a return on equity of 16.20%. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.53 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.83 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a $0.475 dividend. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.84%. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is 72.52%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wolfe Research reiterated an “underperform” rating and set a $34.00 price objective on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Thursday, April 18th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $43.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $37.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a 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 assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Williams Companies currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $39.22.

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.