Moors & Cabot Inc. Has $11.75 Million Stock Position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Moors & Cabot Inc. decreased its position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 2.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 217,012 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 5,244 shares during the period. Moors & Cabot Inc.’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $11,745,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $1,631,288,000 after buying an additional 5,697,605 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Williams Companies by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 30,722,702 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,398,004,000 after acquiring an additional 520,663 shares in the last quarter. Amundi lifted its position in Williams Companies by 28.8% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 8,781,963 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $495,215,000 after acquiring an additional 1,964,421 shares in the last quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. lifted its position in Williams Companies by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 8,425,933 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $456,012,000 after acquiring an additional 234,423 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Williams Companies by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,405,951 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $400,810,000 after acquiring an additional 166,741 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 8,896 shares of the company’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 sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 22,339 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,284,492.50. This represents a 28.48 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Micheal G. Dunn sold 96,687 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.04, for a total transaction of $5,128,278.48. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 714,693 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $37,907,316.72. This trade represents a 11.92 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 131,583 shares of company stock worth $7,107,758 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Stock Up 1.7 %

Shares of WMB opened at $54.96 on Wednesday. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52 week low of $36.51 and a 52 week high of $61.46. The firm has a market cap of $67.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 1.03. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $56.71 and its 200 day simple moving average is $53.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.50.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47. Williams Companies had a net margin of 21.17% and a return on equity of 15.85%. On average, analysts forecast that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 109.29%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on WMB shares. CIBC boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $55.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $46.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their price target 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $55.07.

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.