Bank of Montreal Can Sells 215,276 Shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Bank of Montreal Can reduced its stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 7.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,788,517 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 215,276 shares during the quarter. Bank of Montreal Can’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $125,929,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. SouthState Corp bought a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the second quarter worth approximately $31,000. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Williams Companies during the 2nd quarter worth $34,000. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton increased its position in Williams Companies by 50.4% during the 3rd quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 752 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 252 shares during the period. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the second quarter worth $35,000. Finally, Kimelman & Baird LLC bought a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the second quarter valued at about $42,000. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WMB has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley raised Williams Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $52.00 to $58.00 in a research report on Friday, October 4th. CIBC lifted their price objective on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Bank of America started coverage on Williams Companies in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $55.00 target price on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Williams Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Williams Companies presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $51.79.

Williams Companies Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of WMB stock opened at $58.36 on Wednesday. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a twelve month low of $32.65 and a twelve month high of $60.36. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $51.86 and its 200 day simple moving average is $46.00. The company has a quick ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 0.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $71.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.62, a P/E/G ratio of 5.99 and a beta of 1.03.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.01. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 15.89% and a net margin of 27.36%. The company had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.52 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.45 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a $0.475 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.26%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is 80.17%.

Insider Activity at Williams Companies

In related news, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 7,951 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.30, for a total value of $447,641.30. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 25,858 shares in the company, valued at $1,455,805.40. This represents a 23.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.29, for a total transaction of $90,580.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 304,200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,777,218. The trade was a 0.65 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Williams Companies 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.