Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky Trims Stock Position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky cut its holdings in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 6.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 287,040 shares of the pipeline company's stock after selling 18,570 shares during the quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky's holdings in Williams Companies were worth $15,535,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised its position in Williams Companies by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft now owns 5,568 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $300,000 after buying an additional 180 shares during the last quarter. Albion Financial Group UT grew its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 18.4% during the 4th quarter. Albion Financial Group UT now owns 1,184 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $64,000 after purchasing an additional 184 shares during the period. Sprinkle Financial Consultants LLC grew its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. Sprinkle Financial Consultants LLC now owns 5,073 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $275,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares during the period. AMG National Trust Bank grew its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. AMG National Trust Bank now owns 30,813 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $1,669,000 after purchasing an additional 186 shares during the period. Finally, Tower Wealth Partners Inc. grew its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. Tower Wealth Partners Inc. now owns 4,591 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $248,000 after purchasing an additional 191 shares during the period. 86.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on WMB shares. CIBC lifted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Scotiabank lifted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. 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. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $58.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 25th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $57.77.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Williams Companies Trading Down 0.9 %

Williams Companies stock traded down $0.56 during trading on Friday, hitting $59.05. The company had a trading volume of 4,471,067 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,635,267. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1-year low of $37.69 and a 1-year 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. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $57.59 and its 200-day simple moving average is $56.22. The stock has a market cap of $72.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 0.87.

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

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.50 dividend. This is an increase from Williams Companies's previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.39%. Williams Companies's payout ratio is 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.