Advisors Asset Management Inc. Sells 21,142 Shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Advisors Asset Management Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 15.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 116,815 shares of the pipeline company's stock after selling 21,142 shares during the period. Advisors Asset Management Inc.'s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $6,322,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Quent Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Bank of Jackson Hole Trust acquired a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. AlphaMark Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Williams Companies during the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in Williams Companies in the third quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, Financial Life Planners bought a new position in Williams Companies during the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Williams Companies from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. CIBC boosted 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. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Williams Companies presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $55.21.

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Insider Transactions at Williams Companies

In related news, COO Micheal G. Dunn sold 96,687 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The shares were 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $37,907,316.72. This trade represents a 11.92 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Chad A. Teply sold 26,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 133,048 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,511,890.08. This represents a 16.35 % 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 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.44% of the company's stock.

Williams Companies Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of WMB stock traded down $0.16 during trading on Friday, hitting $59.60. 13,202,488 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,181,508. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $57.09 and its 200 day simple moving average is $53.99. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a twelve month low of $37.18 and a twelve month high of $61.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $72.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.57, a P/E/G ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.50.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last issued 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%. As a group, analysts forecast that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 EPS for the current fiscal 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 given a $0.50 dividend. This is a positive change from Williams Companies's previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.36%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. 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.