First Trust Advisors LP Raises Position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

First Trust Advisors LP boosted its position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 1.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 598,274 shares of the pipeline company's stock after purchasing an additional 11,373 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP's holdings in Williams Companies were worth $32,379,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Barclays PLC grew its position in Williams Companies by 3.4% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 3,271,141 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $149,326,000 after acquiring an additional 108,675 shares in the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the 3rd quarter valued at about $545,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,346,000. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its stake in Williams Companies by 0.5% in the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 41,514 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $1,895,000 after buying an additional 207 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Synovus Financial Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 48.8% in the 3rd quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 19,533 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $892,000 after acquiring an additional 6,409 shares during the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Citigroup boosted their target price on Williams Companies from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Williams Companies from $58.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $57.77.

Williams Companies Stock Down 1.8 %

Shares of WMB traded down $1.08 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $58.59. The company had a trading volume of 7,481,557 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,626,272. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52 week low of $37.69 and a 52 week 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 market capitalization of $71.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 0.87. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $57.66 and a 200 day moving average price of $56.33.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The pipeline company reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.47. Williams Companies had a net margin of 21.17% and a return on equity of 15.85%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.41%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. Williams Companies's payout ratio is 109.29%.

Insider Transactions at Williams Companies

In other Williams Companies news, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 8,896 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.50, for a total transaction of $511,520.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 22,339 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,284,492.50. The trade was a 28.48 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Larry C. Larsen sold 8,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.94, for a total value of $455,520.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 81,265 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,627,229.10. This trade represents a 8.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 139,583 shares of company stock worth $7,563,278 over the last quarter. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.