Catalyst Funds Management Pty Ltd Has $265,000 Stock Position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Catalyst Funds Management Pty Ltd lowered its holdings in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 12.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,900 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 700 shares during the period. Catalyst Funds Management Pty Ltd’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $265,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Board of the Pension Protection Fund acquired a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the 4th quarter worth $720,000. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 13.8% during the 4th quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 162,799 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $8,811,000 after buying an additional 19,782 shares in the last quarter. Golden State Equity Partners raised its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 319.9% during the 4th quarter. Golden State Equity Partners now owns 12,038 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $651,000 after buying an additional 9,171 shares in the last quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 81.4% during the 4th quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC now owns 185,920 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $10,062,000 after buying an additional 83,429 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Myriad Asset Management US LP acquired a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the 4th quarter worth $995,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Williams Companies

In other news, SVP Chad A. Teply sold 26,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 133,048 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,511,890.08. The trade was a 16.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Larry C. Larsen sold 8,000 shares of the business’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 owns 81,265 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,627,229.10. This trade represents a 8.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 139,583 shares of company stock valued at $7,563,278 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on WMB. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Citigroup upped their target price on Williams Companies from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Williams Companies from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Scotiabank upped their target price on Williams Companies from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, CIBC upped their target price on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $55.07.

Williams Companies Stock Up 2.0 %

Shares of Williams Companies stock opened at $57.33 on Monday. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a one year low of $36.84 and a one year high of $61.46. 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 stock’s 50-day moving average is $56.78 and its 200 day moving average is $53.57. The firm has a market cap of $69.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.33, a PEG ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 1.03.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its 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 return on equity of 15.85% and a net margin of 21.17%. Equities research analysts anticipate that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.49%. 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 payout ratio is 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.