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

First Eagle Investment Management LLC lessened its stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 98.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,163 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 183,135 shares during the quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $171,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 5,697,605 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Williams Companies by 1.7% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 30,722,702 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,398,004,000 after buying an additional 520,663 shares in the last quarter. Amundi grew its position in Williams Companies by 28.8% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 8,781,963 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $495,215,000 after buying an additional 1,964,421 shares during the period. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. increased its holdings in Williams Companies by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 8,425,933 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $456,012,000 after buying an additional 234,423 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of 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 worth $400,810,000 after acquiring an additional 166,741 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams Companies

In other news, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 8,896 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.50, for a total value of $511,520.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 22,339 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,284,492.50. The trade was a 28.48 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Larry C. Larsen sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.94, for a total transaction of $455,520.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 81,265 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,627,229.10. The trade was a 8.96 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 139,583 shares of company stock worth $7,563,278 over the last quarter. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on WMB. Citigroup lifted their price target on Williams Companies from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Williams Companies from $46.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Scotiabank upped their price objective 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, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $55.07.

Williams Companies Stock Up 2.0 %

Shares of WMB opened at $57.33 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $56.78 and a two-hundred day simple moving average 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 capitalization of $69.91 billion, a PE ratio of 31.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 1.03. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52-week low of $36.84 and a 52-week high of $61.46.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued 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 net margin of 21.17% and a return on equity of 15.85%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The firm 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. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.49%. This is a positive change from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 109.29%.

Williams Companies 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.