Synovus Financial Corp Sells 6,857 Shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Synovus Financial Corp trimmed its position in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 35.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 12,676 shares of the pipeline company's stock after selling 6,857 shares during the quarter. Synovus Financial Corp's holdings in Williams Companies were worth $686,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in WMB. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted its position in Williams Companies by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft now owns 5,568 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $300,000 after acquiring an additional 180 shares in the last quarter. Albion Financial Group UT grew its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 18.4% during the fourth quarter. Albion Financial Group UT now owns 1,184 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $64,000 after acquiring an additional 184 shares in the last quarter. Sprinkle Financial Consultants LLC lifted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Sprinkle Financial Consultants LLC now owns 5,073 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $275,000 after acquiring an additional 185 shares in the last quarter. AMG National Trust Bank boosted its holdings in Williams Companies by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. AMG National Trust Bank now owns 30,813 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $1,669,000 after purchasing an additional 186 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tower Wealth Partners Inc. grew its stake in Williams Companies by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. Tower Wealth Partners Inc. now owns 4,591 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $248,000 after purchasing an additional 191 shares in the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Williams Companies news, 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 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 8,896 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.50, for a total transaction of $511,520.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 22,339 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,284,492.50. The trade was a 28.48 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 139,583 shares of company stock valued at $7,563,278 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.44% of the company's stock.

Williams Companies Stock Down 4.4 %

Shares of WMB stock traded down $2.55 during trading on Monday, hitting $56.07. 2,652,988 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,613,549. The firm has a market capitalization of $68.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.64, a P/E/G ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.50. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $57.43 and its 200 day simple moving average is $55.91. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a twelve month low of $37.69 and a twelve month high of $61.67.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The pipeline company reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting 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, 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.57%. This is a boost from Williams Companies's previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Williams Companies's payout ratio is presently 109.29%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Williams Companies from $58.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. Truist Financial upped their price target 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. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Scotiabank raised their target price on 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, Barclays increased their price target on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $57.77.

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.