Mufg Securities Americas Inc. Invests $974,000 in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Mufg Securities Americas Inc. acquired a new position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 17,995 shares of the pipeline company's stock, valued at approximately $974,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Board of the Pension Protection Fund purchased a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the fourth quarter worth about $720,000. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in Williams Companies by 13.8% during the 4th quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 162,799 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $8,811,000 after purchasing an additional 19,782 shares during the last quarter. Golden State Equity Partners increased its stake in Williams Companies by 319.9% during the 4th quarter. Golden State Equity Partners now owns 12,038 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $651,000 after purchasing an additional 9,171 shares in the last quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 81.4% in the fourth quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC now owns 185,920 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $10,062,000 after buying an additional 83,429 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Myriad Asset Management US LP acquired a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the fourth quarter worth $995,000. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Micheal G. Dunn sold 96,687 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.04, for a total value of $5,128,278.48. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 714,693 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $37,907,316.72. This trade represents a 11.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Chad A. Teply sold 26,000 shares of the company's 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 133,048 shares of the company's stock, 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. In the last three months, insiders have sold 139,583 shares of company stock worth $7,563,278. Insiders own 0.44% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WMB has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays raised their target price on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $63.00 price objective on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Williams Companies from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $58.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Williams Companies has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $60.50.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

WMB traded down $0.01 on Friday, reaching $58.77. The stock had a trading volume of 5,118,505 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,636,383. The business's 50-day moving average price is $58.24 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $56.87. The company has a market cap of $71.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 0.66. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12-month low of $39.88 and a 12-month high of $61.67. The company has a current ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $3.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.90 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 21.17% and a return on equity of 15.85%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.59 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. Williams Companies's dividend payout ratio is presently 106.95%.

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.