The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) Shares Sold by Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC

Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC cut its holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 24.7% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 3,747 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 1,230 shares during the quarter. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $203,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. ExodusPoint Capital Management LP increased its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 6,196.1% during the fourth quarter. ExodusPoint Capital Management LP now owns 774,668 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $41,925,000 after acquiring an additional 762,364 shares in the last quarter. Arete Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Williams Companies by 129.0% during the 4th quarter. Arete Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 21,171 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,146,000 after purchasing an additional 11,927 shares in the last quarter. World Investment Advisors raised its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 89.5% in the fourth quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 22,600 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,223,000 after buying an additional 10,671 shares during the last quarter. Cinctive Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the fourth quarter worth $36,808,000. Finally, Private Portfolio Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 28.0% during the fourth quarter. Private Portfolio Partners LLC now owns 9,531 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $516,000 after buying an additional 2,086 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Larry C. Larsen sold 8,000 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.94, for a total transaction of $455,520.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 81,265 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,627,229.10. The trade was a 8.96 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Chad A. Teply sold 26,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.46, for a total transaction of $1,467,960.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 133,048 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,511,890.08. This trade represents a 16.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 139,583 shares of company stock worth $7,563,278 over the last 90 days. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on WMB. Scotiabank lifted their price target on Williams Companies from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Barclays upped their target price on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, CIBC raised their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $56.07.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

NYSE WMB opened at $54.61 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $66.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.84, a PEG ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 0.87. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $57.25 and a 200 day moving average of $54.95. The company has a current ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a twelve month low of $37.18 and a twelve month high of $61.67.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its 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%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.66%. This is an increase from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 109.29%.

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.