Geode Capital Management LLC Acquires 540,533 Shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 1.8% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 31,263,235 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after acquiring an additional 540,533 shares during the quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $1,687,797,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in WMB. Tradewinds LLC. purchased a new position in Williams Companies during the 4th quarter valued at $306,000. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 28.5% during the 4th quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 1,714,358 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $92,854,000 after purchasing an additional 380,051 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 14.3% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,341,474 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $126,721,000 after purchasing an additional 293,776 shares in the last quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG raised its stake in Williams Companies by 115.8% in the fourth quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG now owns 103,533 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $5,603,000 after buying an additional 55,558 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Summit Financial LLC lifted its holdings in Williams Companies by 49.9% in the fourth quarter. Summit Financial LLC now owns 81,659 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $4,419,000 after buying an additional 27,189 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on WMB shares. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Williams Companies from $58.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 25th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Williams Companies from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Barclays increased their price objective on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, CIBC lifted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Williams Companies presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $56.07.

Williams Companies Trading Up 1.3 %

NYSE:WMB opened at $60.54 on Wednesday. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52 week low of $37.18 and a 52 week high of $61.67. The stock has a market cap of $73.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.08, a PEG ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 1.03. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $57.31 and its 200-day moving average price is $54.81. The company has a quick ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its 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 return on equity of 15.85% and a net margin of 21.17%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.30%. This is a boost from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 109.29%.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Chad A. Teply sold 26,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owns 133,048 shares in the company, valued at $7,511,890.08. This represents a 16.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Micheal G. Dunn sold 96,687 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $37,907,316.72. This trade represents a 11.92 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 139,583 shares of company stock valued at $7,563,278 in the last 90 days. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.