The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) Shares Sold by MetLife Investment Management LLC

MetLife Investment Management LLC lowered its holdings in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 2.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 316,919 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 8,126 shares during the period. MetLife Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $14,467,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. CreativeOne Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of Williams Companies by 103.1% during the 3rd quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 24,915 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,137,000 after purchasing an additional 12,647 shares during the last quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA increased its position in Williams Companies by 0.6% during the third quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA now owns 175,294 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $8,002,000 after buying an additional 1,012 shares in the last quarter. Cadence Bank increased its position in Williams Companies by 14.1% during the third quarter. Cadence Bank now owns 8,905 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $407,000 after buying an additional 1,101 shares in the last quarter. Avestar Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 6.2% in the third quarter. Avestar Capital LLC now owns 5,210 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $238,000 after acquiring an additional 306 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group boosted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 2.6% during the third quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 7,817 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $357,000 after acquiring an additional 197 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WMB has been the subject of several analyst reports. Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Williams Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Mizuho lifted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Citigroup increased their price target on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded Williams Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $52.00 to $58.00 in a report on Friday, October 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Williams Companies presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $51.79.

Williams Companies Price Performance

WMB opened at $58.14 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $52.12 and a two-hundred day moving average of $46.08. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52-week low of $32.65 and a 52-week high of $60.36. 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 company has a market cap of $70.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.53, a P/E/G ratio of 6.01 and a beta of 1.03.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.52 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 27.36% and a return on equity of 15.89%. The firm’s revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.45 EPS. On average, analysts expect that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a dividend of $0.475 per share. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 80.17%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.29, for a total value of $90,580.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 304,200 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,777,218. The trade was a 0.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 7,951 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.30, for a total value of $447,641.30. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 25,858 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,455,805.40. This trade represents a 23.52 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.44% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Williams Companies 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.