NEOS Investment Management LLC Acquires 17,420 Shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

NEOS Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 31.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 72,904 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after buying an additional 17,420 shares during the period. NEOS Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $3,946,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd grew its position in Williams Companies by 16.9% in the fourth quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 87,805 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $4,752,000 after acquiring an additional 12,684 shares in the last quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership purchased a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the 4th quarter worth approximately $6,464,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its position in shares of Williams Companies by 13.7% during the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 2,179,344 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $123,351,000 after purchasing an additional 262,611 shares during the last quarter. Korea Investment CORP increased its position in shares of Williams Companies by 12.6% during the 4th quarter. Korea Investment CORP now owns 918,925 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $49,732,000 after purchasing an additional 102,976 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. lifted its position in Williams Companies by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. now owns 26,475 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,433,000 after buying an additional 401 shares during the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective 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. Scotiabank increased 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. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $58.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Barclays increased their price target on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, CIBC raised their price target on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $56.07.

Insider Activity

In related news, 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 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. This represents a 8.96 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Chad A. Teply sold 26,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.46, for a total value of $1,467,960.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 133,048 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,511,890.08. This represents a 16.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 139,583 shares of company stock worth $7,563,278. Insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE WMB opened at $59.48 on Friday. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1-year low of $37.18 and a 1-year high of $61.67. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $57.30 and a 200 day moving average price of $54.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $72.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 0.50 and a quick ratio of 0.45.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The pipeline company reported $0.47 earnings per share 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%. Equities research analysts expect that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. 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. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.36%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 109.29%.

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.