The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) Shares Sold by First Eagle Investment Management LLC

First Eagle Investment Management LLC cut its holdings in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 98.3% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 3,163 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 183,135 shares during the period. First Eagle Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $171,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Alpine Woods Capital Investors LLC boosted its holdings in Williams Companies by 9.6% in the fourth quarter. Alpine Woods Capital Investors LLC now owns 61,444 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $3,325,000 after purchasing an additional 5,373 shares during the period. Aviso Financial Inc. raised its position in Williams Companies by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Aviso Financial Inc. now owns 88,475 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $4,788,000 after purchasing an additional 2,459 shares in the last quarter. May Barnhard Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the 4th quarter valued at about $251,000. Phillips Financial Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the fourth quarter worth approximately $599,000. Finally, Balboa Wealth Partners raised its holdings in Williams Companies by 66.5% in the fourth quarter. Balboa Wealth Partners now owns 10,208 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $552,000 after acquiring an additional 4,076 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams Companies

In other news, SVP Chad A. Teply sold 26,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 133,048 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,511,890.08. This represents a 16.35 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Larry C. Larsen sold 8,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.94, for a total transaction of $455,520.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 81,265 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,627,229.10. This trade represents a 8.96 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 139,583 shares of company stock valued at $7,563,278. 0.44% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on WMB. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. CIBC raised their price target on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Scotiabank upped their price objective on Williams Companies from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Williams Companies from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on Williams Companies from $46.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Williams Companies presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $55.07.

Williams Companies Stock Up 2.0 %

WMB opened at $57.33 on Monday. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52 week low of $36.84 and a 52 week high of $61.46. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $56.78 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $53.57. The company has a quick ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67. The company has a market cap of $69.91 billion, a PE ratio of 31.33, a P/E/G ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 1.03.

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

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.49%. This is an increase from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 109.29%.

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.