MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB Has $5.95 Million Stock Position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB decreased its position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 8.8% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 99,597 shares of the pipeline company's stock after selling 9,583 shares during the quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB's holdings in Williams Companies were worth $5,952,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Williams Companies by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 130,356,165 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $7,054,876,000 after buying an additional 1,008,213 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Williams Companies by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 31,263,235 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $1,687,797,000 after buying an additional 540,533 shares in the last quarter. Blackstone Inc. lifted its stake in Williams Companies by 36.5% during the fourth quarter. Blackstone Inc. now owns 18,954,088 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $1,025,795,000 after purchasing an additional 5,068,738 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 12.5% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 15,236,940 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $824,623,000 after purchasing an additional 1,696,618 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the 4th quarter valued at $575,103,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Micheal G. Dunn sold 96,687 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on 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 directly owns 714,693 shares of the company's stock, valued at $37,907,316.72. This trade represents a 11.92% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 8,896 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.50, for a total value of $511,520.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 22,339 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,284,492.50. This represents a 28.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 113,583 shares of company stock valued at $6,095,318 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.44% of the company's stock.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WMB traded up $0.12 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $60.39. 12,301,540 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,723,608. The company has a market cap 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 company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 0.50 and a quick ratio of 0.45. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a twelve month low of $40.41 and a twelve month high of $61.67. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $58.34 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $57.22.

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

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. CIBC raised their target price on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Citigroup raised their target price on Williams Companies from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Williams Companies from $58.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 25th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Williams Companies from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Scotiabank raised their target price on Williams Companies from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Williams Companies has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $60.75.

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.