Viawealth LLC Sells 6,493 Shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Viawealth LLC cut its stake in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 27.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 17,520 shares of the pipeline company's stock after selling 6,493 shares during the quarter. Viawealth LLC's holdings in Williams Companies were worth $948,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Quest Partners LLC bought a new stake in Williams Companies during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $116,000. LMR Partners LLP acquired a new position in Williams Companies in the third quarter worth $256,000. Caprock Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 160.4% during the third quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 33,960 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $1,550,000 after purchasing an additional 20,917 shares during the last quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc increased its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 7.2% in the third quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc now owns 13,714 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $626,000 after buying an additional 917 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 124.2% in the third quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 37,084 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $1,693,000 after buying an additional 20,542 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Williams Companies

In other Williams Companies news, COO Micheal G. Dunn sold 96,687 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at $37,907,316.72. This represents a 11.92 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Chad A. Teply sold 26,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 133,048 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,511,890.08. This represents a 16.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 139,583 shares of company stock valued at $7,563,278 over the last three months. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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Williams Companies Trading Up 2.6 %

NYSE WMB traded up $1.54 on Monday, reaching $61.14. The company had a trading volume of 6,314,136 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,182,036. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52 week low of $37.18 and a 52 week high of $61.54. The stock's 50 day moving average is $57.20 and its 200-day moving average is $54.17. The company has a quick ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67. The stock has a market cap of $74.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.41, a PEG ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 1.03.

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

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Williams Companies's previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.27%. Williams Companies's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 109.29%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WMB has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. CIBC increased their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. 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 report on Tuesday, February 25th. Scotiabank upped their price objective on Williams Companies from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Williams Companies from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $55.21.

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.