Loomis Sayles & Co. L P Sells 27,508 Shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Loomis Sayles & Co. L P cut its holdings in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 20.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 110,119 shares of the pipeline company's stock after selling 27,508 shares during the period. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P's holdings in Williams Companies were worth $5,959,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the third quarter worth approximately $116,000. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 10.1% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,650,492 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $120,995,000 after purchasing an additional 243,302 shares during the period. Glenmede Trust Co. NA lifted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA now owns 175,294 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $8,002,000 after purchasing an additional 1,012 shares during the period. CreativeOne Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 103.1% in the 3rd quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 24,915 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $1,137,000 after purchasing an additional 12,647 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its position in shares of Williams Companies by 7.3% during the third quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 551,136 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $25,159,000 after buying an additional 37,379 shares during the period. 86.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $58.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. Citigroup upped their target price on Williams Companies from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Scotiabank raised their target price on Williams Companies from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. CIBC boosted their price target on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. One research 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Williams Companies presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $56.07.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Micheal G. Dunn sold 96,687 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.04, for a total value 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 approximately $37,907,316.72. This represents a 11.92 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 8,896 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.50, for a total transaction of $511,520.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 22,339 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,284,492.50. This represents a 28.48 % decrease in their position. 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. Company insiders own 0.44% of the company's stock.

Williams Companies Stock Down 2.9 %

Shares of NYSE:WMB traded down $1.81 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $59.79. 2,965,046 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,492,391. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 0.50 and a quick ratio of 0.45. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12 month low of $37.18 and a 12 month high of $61.67. The company has a market cap of $72.91 billion, a PE ratio of 32.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 1.03. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $57.36 and a 200-day moving average price of $54.86.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The pipeline company reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.47. Williams Companies had a net margin of 21.17% and a return on equity of 15.85%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.35%. This is a boost from Williams Companies's previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. Williams Companies's payout ratio is currently 109.29%.

Williams Companies Company 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.