Wells Fargo & Company MN Has $348.44 Million Stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Wells Fargo & Company MN reduced its stake in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 11.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 6,438,244 shares of the pipeline company's stock after selling 825,925 shares during the period. Wells Fargo & Company MN owned about 0.53% of Williams Companies worth $348,438,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Quent Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Bank of Jackson Hole Trust acquired a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. AlphaMark Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Sandy Spring Bank acquired a new position in Williams Companies during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Finally, Hoey Investments Inc. bought a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Larry C. Larsen sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.94, for a total transaction of $455,520.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 81,265 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,627,229.10. This represents a 8.96 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Micheal G. Dunn sold 96,687 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owns 714,693 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $37,907,316.72. This trade represents a 11.92 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 139,583 shares of company stock valued at $7,563,278 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.44% of the company's stock.

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Williams Companies Stock Down 3.3 %

Shares of WMB stock traded down $1.84 during trading on Thursday, hitting $54.58. 5,169,391 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,658,060. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a twelve month low of $37.18 and a twelve month high of $61.67. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $66.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.65, a P/E/G ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 0.87. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $57.23 and its 200 day simple moving average is $55.29.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The pipeline company reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates 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 firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from Williams Companies's previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.66%. Williams Companies's payout ratio is 109.29%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Williams Companies from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Truist Financial increased their price target on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Williams Companies from $58.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. Finally, Citigroup lifted 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Williams Companies currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $56.07.

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.