Dodge & Cox cut its holdings in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 2.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 36,348,514 shares of the pipeline company's stock after selling 923,112 shares during the quarter. Dodge & Cox owned approximately 2.98% of Williams Companies worth $1,967,182,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Board of the Pension Protection Fund acquired a new stake in Williams Companies in the fourth quarter valued at $720,000. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Williams Companies by 13.8% in the 4th quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 162,799 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $8,811,000 after purchasing an additional 19,782 shares during the last quarter. Golden State Equity Partners raised its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 319.9% in the 4th quarter. Golden State Equity Partners now owns 12,038 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $651,000 after purchasing an additional 9,171 shares in the last quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 81.4% during the fourth quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC now owns 185,920 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $10,062,000 after purchasing an additional 83,429 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Myriad Asset Management US LP bought a new stake in Williams Companies in the fourth quarter valued at about $995,000. 86.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Insiders Place Their Bets
In other news, COO Micheal G. Dunn sold 96,687 shares of the business's stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 714,693 shares of the company's stock, valued at $37,907,316.72. The trade was a 11.92 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Chad A. Teply sold 26,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.46, for a total value of $1,467,960.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 133,048 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,511,890.08. This trade represents a 16.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 139,583 shares of company stock worth $7,563,278. 0.44% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.
Analyst Ratings Changes
A number of research analysts have commented on WMB shares. Citigroup increased their target price on Williams Companies from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $58.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, CIBC increased their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Williams Companies has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $57.77.
Check Out Our Latest Report on Williams Companies
Williams Companies Price Performance
WMB traded up $0.23 on Friday, reaching $58.49. The company had a trading volume of 6,895,827 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,628,762. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a one year low of $37.69 and a one year high of $61.67. The company has a market capitalization of $71.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.96, a PEG ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a fifty day moving average of $57.43 and a 200-day moving average of $55.86. The company has a current ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67.
Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The pipeline company reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.47. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 15.85% and a net margin of 21.17%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current year.
Williams Companies Increases Dividend
The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This is a positive change from Williams Companies's previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Williams Companies's payout ratio is presently 109.29%.
About Williams Companies
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Free Report)
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.
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