Bank of Montreal Can Has $139.97 Million Holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Bank of Montreal Can decreased its position in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 7.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,586,253 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 202,264 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can owned about 0.21% of Williams Companies worth $139,968,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of WMB. Polymer Capital Management US LLC acquired a new stake in Williams Companies during the 4th quarter valued at $474,000. ArchPoint Investors acquired a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the fourth quarter valued at $227,000. Cerity Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 183,317 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $9,224,000 after buying an additional 7,618 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Williams Companies by 18.4% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,138,814 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $169,873,000 after acquiring an additional 488,322 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd acquired a new stake in Williams Companies in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,252,000. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Barclays increased their price objective on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Williams Companies from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Scotiabank raised their price target on Williams Companies from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Williams Companies presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $56.07.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

WMB opened at $54.79 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 business has a fifty day simple moving average of $57.25 and a 200 day simple moving average of $55.16. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $37.18 and a 1 year high of $61.67. The company has a market capitalization of $66.80 billion, a PE ratio of 29.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 0.87.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released 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 21.17% and a return on equity of 15.85%. Research analysts expect that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.65%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 109.29%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams Companies

In other Williams Companies news, COO Micheal G. Dunn sold 96,687 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.04, for a total value of $5,128,278.48. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 714,693 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $37,907,316.72. This trade represents a 11.92 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 8,896 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 22,339 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,284,492.50. This trade 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 valued at $7,563,278 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

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.