GTS Securities LLC Sells 142,373 Shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

GTS Securities LLC reduced its stake in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 92.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 12,232 shares of the pipeline company's stock after selling 142,373 shares during the quarter. GTS Securities LLC's holdings in Williams Companies were worth $662,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Barclays PLC increased its position in shares of Williams Companies by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 3,271,141 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $149,326,000 after purchasing an additional 108,675 shares in the last quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Williams Companies by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,636 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $305,000 after acquiring an additional 277 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in Williams Companies by 40.9% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 13,680 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $740,000 after buying an additional 3,969 shares during the period. RFG Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in Williams Companies during the 4th quarter worth approximately $319,000. Finally, AlphaMark Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on WMB. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $58.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 25th. CIBC upped their price objective on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $63.00 price objective on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $60.75.

Williams Companies Stock Up 0.2%

WMB traded up $0.12 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $60.39. 12,301,540 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,723,608. The stock has a market capitalization of $73.64 billion, a PE ratio of 33.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 0.66. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $40.41 and a 1 year 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 company has a 50 day moving average price of $58.34 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $57.23.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.05. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 15.85% and a net margin of 21.17%. The company had revenue of $3.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.90 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.59 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.31%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. Williams Companies's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 106.95%.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Micheal G. Dunn sold 96,687 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.04, for a total transaction of $5,128,278.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 714,693 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $37,907,316.72. The trade was a 11.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Larry C. Larsen sold 8,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.94, for a total value of $455,520.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 113,583 shares of company stock valued at $6,095,318 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.44% of the company's stock.

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.