Larry C. Larsen Sells 8,000 Shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) Stock

The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) SVP Larry C. Larsen sold 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.94, for a total value of $455,520.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 81,265 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,627,229.10. This trade represents a 8.96 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE WMB opened at $57.33 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $69.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.33, a PEG ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 1.03. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a one year low of $36.69 and a one year high of $61.46. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $56.78 and a 200 day simple moving average of $53.46. The company has a current ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The pipeline company reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47. Williams Companies had a net margin of 21.17% and a return on equity of 15.85%. Sell-side analysts expect that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced 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 represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is an increase from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 109.29%.

Institutional Trading of Williams Companies

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of WMB. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 130,356,165 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $7,054,876,000 after purchasing an additional 1,008,213 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in Williams Companies by 19.0% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 35,734,666 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,631,288,000 after purchasing an additional 5,697,605 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Williams Companies by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 31,263,235 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,687,797,000 after buying an additional 540,533 shares in the last quarter. Blackstone Inc. grew its stake in Williams Companies by 36.5% during the fourth quarter. Blackstone Inc. now owns 18,954,088 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,025,795,000 after buying an additional 5,068,738 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 12.5% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 15,236,940 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $824,623,000 after buying an additional 1,696,618 shares in the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on WMB shares. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $55.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Williams Companies from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, CIBC boosted their price objective on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Williams Companies currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $55.07.

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.