Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB is Johnson Investment Counsel Inc.’s 10th Largest Position

Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 3,072,230 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 20,918 shares during the period. Williams Companies makes up approximately 1.6% of Johnson Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 10th largest holding. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $194,626,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the second quarter valued at approximately $765,164,000. BROOKFIELD Corp ON lifted its position in Williams Companies by 190.3% during the second quarter. BROOKFIELD Corp ON now owns 12,028,186 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $755,490,000 after buying an additional 7,884,730 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in Williams Companies by 27.3% during the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 14,417,821 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $905,583,000 after buying an additional 3,089,390 shares during the period. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership boosted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 39.0% during the 2nd quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 6,954,733 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $436,827,000 after buying an additional 1,950,485 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Williams Companies by 1.5% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 133,075,340 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $8,358,462,000 after buying an additional 1,912,156 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on WMB shares. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $69.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Monday, January 12th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $72.00 to $70.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. Zacks Research upgraded Williams Companies from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. Finally, Mizuho raised Williams Companies to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 27th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $68.64.

Williams Companies Stock Up 1.5%

Williams Companies stock opened at $67.95 on Tuesday. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12 month low of $51.58 and a 12 month high of $68.94. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $61.99 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $60.47. The company has a current ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73. The firm has a market cap of $82.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.03, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.65.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. This is a boost from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is 103.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams Companies

In related news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.53, for a total transaction of $242,120.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 302,645 shares in the company, valued at $18,319,101.85. This represents a 1.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders have sold 8,000 shares of company stock worth $498,700 over the last three months. 0.44% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Williams Companies Profile

Williams Companies, Inc (NYSE: WMB) is a U.S.-based energy infrastructure company focused on the midstream segment of the natural gas value chain. The company develops, owns and operates assets that gather, process, transport and store natural gas and natural gas liquids (NGLs). Its operations support the movement of gas from production areas to end users including utilities, power generators, industrial customers and export facilities.

Williams’s product and service offering includes interstate and intrastate pipeline transmission, gas-gathering systems, processing facilities that remove impurities and separate NGLs, storage services and fractionation and transportation of NGL products.