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

Phraction Management LLC reduced its position in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 1.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 114,301 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 1,667 shares during the quarter. Williams Companies accounts for approximately 2.2% of Phraction Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest position. Phraction Management LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $6,186,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft grew its holdings in Williams Companies by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft now owns 5,568 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $300,000 after acquiring an additional 180 shares during the period. Albion Financial Group UT raised its holdings in 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 buying an additional 184 shares during the period. Sprinkle Financial Consultants LLC raised its holdings in 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 buying an additional 185 shares during the period. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Williams Companies by 24.4% during the 4th quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 995 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $54,000 after buying an additional 195 shares during the period. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group raised its holdings in Williams Companies by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 7,817 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $357,000 after buying an additional 197 shares during the period. 86.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WMB has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Barclays boosted their price objective on Williams Companies from $46.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Williams Companies from $55.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Scotiabank reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $51.00 target price on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Friday, January 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $53.00.

Williams Companies Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE WMB opened at $54.83 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $66.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.14, a PEG ratio of 5.06 and a beta of 1.04. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $55.87 and a 200 day simple moving average of $51.49. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52 week low of $32.65 and a 52 week high of $61.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a current ratio of 0.57.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The pipeline company reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.47. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 15.89% and a net margin of 27.36%. On average, research analysts predict that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. 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 3.65%. This is a boost from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 80.17%.

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.