Ingalls & Snyder LLC Sells 136,457 Shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Ingalls & Snyder LLC lowered its stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 8.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,429,566 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 136,457 shares during the quarter. Williams Companies comprises about 3.0% of Ingalls & Snyder LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. Ingalls & Snyder LLC owned about 0.12% of Williams Companies worth $77,368,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased its stake 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 purchasing an additional 180 shares during the period. Albion Financial Group UT increased its stake in Williams Companies by 18.4% during the fourth quarter. Albion Financial Group UT now owns 1,184 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $64,000 after purchasing an additional 184 shares during the period. Sprinkle Financial Consultants LLC increased its stake in Williams Companies by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Sprinkle Financial Consultants LLC now owns 5,073 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $275,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares during the period. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Williams Companies by 24.4% during the fourth quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 995 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $54,000 after purchasing an additional 195 shares during the period. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group increased its stake in Williams Companies by 2.6% during the third quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 7,817 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $357,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on WMB. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $46.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $55.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. CIBC upped their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $55.00 target price on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $53.00.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Shares of Williams Companies stock opened at $54.83 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $66.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.14, a P/E/G ratio of 5.06 and a beta of 1.04. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52 week low of $32.65 and a 52 week high of $61.46. The company has a quick ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 0.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $55.87 and its two-hundred day moving average is $51.49.

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 net margin of 27.36% and a return on equity of 15.89%. Research analysts forecast that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. This is an increase from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 80.17%.

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.