Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC Has $344,000 Stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC grew its stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 10.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 6,355 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 627 shares during the period. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $344,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of WMB. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in Williams Companies by 19.0% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 35,734,666 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,631,288,000 after purchasing an additional 5,697,605 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 3,490.2% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,600,239 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $86,605,000 after acquiring an additional 1,555,667 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 224.1% during the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 1,334,307 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $60,909,000 after acquiring an additional 922,550 shares during the period. Castle Hook Partners LP lifted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 31.7% during the 3rd quarter. Castle Hook Partners LP now owns 2,989,278 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $136,461,000 after acquiring an additional 718,915 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 30,722,702 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,398,004,000 after acquiring an additional 520,663 shares during the period. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on WMB. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $46.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $55.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. CIBC raised their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. One 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.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $55.07.

Williams Companies Trading Down 0.7 %

WMB opened at $54.00 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $65.84 billion, a PE ratio of 29.51, a PEG ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 1.03. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1-year low of $35.88 and a 1-year high of $61.46. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $56.70 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $53.26.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The pipeline company reported $0.47 earnings per share 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%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 earnings per share 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. This is a boost from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.70%. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is currently 109.29%.

Insider Transactions at Williams Companies

In related 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 transaction of $511,520.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 22,339 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,284,492.50. The trade was a 28.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Chad A. Teply sold 26,000 shares of the business’s 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 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. Insiders sold a total of 131,583 shares of company stock worth $7,107,758 in the last quarter. 0.44% of the stock is owned by company 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.