Loomis Sayles & Co. L P Decreases Holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Loomis Sayles & Co. L P decreased its position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 20.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 110,119 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 27,508 shares during the quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $5,959,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Quent Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Bank of Jackson Hole Trust bought a new stake in Williams Companies in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. AlphaMark Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Williams Companies during the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Sandy Spring Bank bought a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Finally, Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the third quarter worth about $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on WMB shares. Truist Financial increased their target price on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $58.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 25th. CIBC upped their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target 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, Scotiabank boosted their price objective 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $56.07.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Chad A. Teply sold 26,000 shares of Williams Companies 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 in the company, valued at approximately $7,511,890.08. The trade was a 16.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Micheal G. Dunn sold 96,687 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.04, for a total value of $5,128,278.48. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 714,693 shares in the company, valued at approximately $37,907,316.72. This represents a 11.92 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 139,583 shares of company stock valued at $7,563,278 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE:WMB opened at $59.24 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $72.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.37, a P/E/G ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 1.03. 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 stock has a 50 day moving average price of $57.30 and a 200-day moving average price of $54.53. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52-week low of $37.18 and a 52-week high of $61.67.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The pipeline company reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 15.85% and a net margin of 21.17%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate 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 will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This is a boost from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.38%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 109.29%.

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.