International Assets Investment Management LLC Sells 337,132 Shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

International Assets Investment Management LLC lessened its position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 85.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 57,029 shares of the pipeline company's stock after selling 337,132 shares during the quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC's holdings in Williams Companies were worth $3,086,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brooklyn Investment Group boosted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 2.6% during the third quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 7,817 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $357,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares during the period. Dearborn Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Dearborn Partners LLC now owns 18,111 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $827,000 after acquiring an additional 201 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC grew its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 41,514 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $1,895,000 after acquiring an additional 207 shares in the last quarter. Pinnacle Family Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 3.3% during the third quarter. Pinnacle Family Advisors LLC now owns 6,510 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $297,000 after acquiring an additional 211 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sunbelt Securities Inc. grew its stake in Williams Companies by 12.6% in the third quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 1,899 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $87,000 after purchasing an additional 212 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Barclays lifted their price target on Williams Companies from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Mizuho lifted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. CIBC increased their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Bank of America began coverage on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a "buy" rating and a $55.00 target price on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $52.07.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Shares of WMB traded up $0.85 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $56.40. The company's stock had a trading volume of 5,986,743 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,862,522. The stock's 50-day moving average is $55.53 and its two-hundred day moving average is $48.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $68.75 billion, a PE ratio of 23.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.60 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a current ratio of 0.57. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a one year low of $32.65 and a one year high of $60.36.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.52 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 27.36% and a return on equity of 15.89%. The business's revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.45 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.92 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th were issued a dividend of $0.475 per share. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.37%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. Williams Companies's payout ratio is presently 80.17%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 7,951 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.30, for a total transaction of $447,641.30. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 25,858 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,455,805.40. The trade was a 23.52 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.