Millstone Evans Group LLC Invests $36,000 in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Millstone Evans Group LLC acquired a new stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 659 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $36,000.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 19.0% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 35,734,666 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,631,288,000 after buying an additional 5,697,605 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 30,722,702 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,398,004,000 after acquiring an additional 520,663 shares during the period. Amundi grew its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 28.8% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 8,781,963 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $495,215,000 after purchasing an additional 1,964,421 shares in the last quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. increased its position in shares of Williams Companies by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 8,425,933 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $456,012,000 after purchasing an additional 234,423 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Williams Companies by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,405,951 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $400,810,000 after purchasing an additional 166,741 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Williams Companies

In other news, COO Micheal G. Dunn sold 96,687 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.04, for a total transaction 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 $37,907,316.72. This represents a 11.92 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 8,896 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.50, for a total transaction of $511,520.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 22,339 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,284,492.50. This represents a 28.48 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 139,583 shares of company stock worth $7,563,278 over the last ninety days. 0.44% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Williams Companies Stock Up 2.6 %

NYSE:WMB opened at $61.14 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 0.50 and a quick ratio of 0.45. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a one year low of $37.18 and a one year high of $61.55. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $57.20 and its 200 day simple moving average is $54.17. The company has a market cap of $74.55 billion, a PE ratio of 33.41, 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 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47. Williams Companies had a net margin of 21.17% and a return on equity of 15.85%. On average, research analysts anticipate that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. This is a boost from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.27%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 109.29%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WMB has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday. 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 note on Tuesday, November 26th. Scotiabank lifted their price target on Williams Companies from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, CIBC upped 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 investment 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $55.21.

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.