Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP Has $422.29 Million Stock Position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP decreased its holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 6.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,802,806 shares of the pipeline company's stock after selling 527,272 shares during the period. Williams Companies accounts for about 10.0% of Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP's holdings, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP owned 0.64% of Williams Companies worth $422,288,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Quent Capital LLC bought a new stake in Williams Companies during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Bank of Jackson Hole Trust purchased a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. AlphaMark Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, Financial Life Planners bought a new position in Williams Companies in the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company's stock.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Shares of WMB opened at $54.96 on Wednesday. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $56.71 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $53.33. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $36.51 and a fifty-two week high of $61.46. The stock has a market cap of $67.02 billion, a PE ratio of 30.03, a price-to-earnings-growth 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.

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Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The pipeline company reported $0.47 earnings per share 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%. Analysts anticipate that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is an increase from Williams Companies's previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.64%. Williams Companies's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 109.29%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Chad A. Teply sold 26,000 shares of the company'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 value of $1,467,960.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 133,048 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,511,890.08. This represents a 16.35 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Micheal G. Dunn sold 96,687 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.04, for a total value of $5,128,278.48. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 714,693 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $37,907,316.72. The trade was a 11.92 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 131,583 shares of company stock worth $7,107,758 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.44% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on WMB. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $46.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target 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. CIBC increased their price objective on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Williams Companies from $55.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Williams Companies from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $55.07.

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.

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