Bank of Montreal Can Has $125.93 Million Position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Bank of Montreal Can decreased its position in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 7.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,788,517 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 215,276 shares during the quarter. Bank of Montreal Can owned approximately 0.23% of Williams Companies worth $125,929,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Williams Companies Price Performance

NYSE WMB opened at $58.36 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $71.14 billion, a PE ratio of 24.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.99 and a beta of 1.03. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12-month low of $32.65 and a 12-month high of $60.36. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $51.86 and its 200-day moving average is $46.00. The company has a quick ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 0.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67.

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

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 3.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 80.17%.

Insider Activity

In other Williams Companies news, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 7,951 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 25,858 shares in the company, valued at $1,455,805.40. This trade represents a 23.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of Williams Companies 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 transaction, 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on the stock. CIBC upped their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Scotiabank increased their target price on Williams Companies from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price 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. One 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $51.79.

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.