Jennison Associates LLC Sells 14,306 Shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Jennison Associates LLC trimmed its position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 0.2% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,018,325 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 14,306 shares during the quarter. Jennison Associates LLC owned approximately 0.49% of Williams Companies worth $274,737,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of WMB. SouthState Corp bought a new stake in Williams Companies in the second quarter worth $31,000. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Williams Companies during the 2nd quarter valued at about $34,000. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton grew its position in Williams Companies by 50.4% during the 3rd quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 752 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 252 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP purchased a new position in Williams Companies in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $35,000. Finally, Kimelman & Baird LLC bought a new stake in Williams Companies during the 2nd quarter valued at $42,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 7,951 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.30, for a total transaction of $447,641.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 25,858 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,455,805.40. The trade was a 23.52 % 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 Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.29, for a total transaction of $90,580.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 304,200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,777,218. This trade represents a 0.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WMB has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Citigroup raised 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. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Williams Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Scotiabank boosted their price target on Williams Companies from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Williams Companies from $55.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised Williams Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $52.00 to $58.00 in a report on Friday, October 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Williams Companies presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $51.54.

Williams Companies Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of WMB stock opened at $58.60 on Wednesday. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12 month low of $32.65 and a 12 month high of $58.69. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $50.48 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $45.31. The stock has a market cap of $71.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.73, a P/E/G ratio of 5.96 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a current ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $2.65 billion for 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.45 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.475 per share. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.24%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is presently 80.17%.

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.