Buckley Wealth Management LLC Sells 1,845 Shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Buckley Wealth Management LLC cut its holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 6.1% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 28,285 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 1,845 shares during the period. Buckley Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $1,531,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in WMB. Apollon Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 6.3% in the third quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 32,120 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,466,000 after purchasing an additional 1,917 shares during the period. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in Williams Companies by 6.9% during the third quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 11,829 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $540,000 after acquiring an additional 764 shares during the period. Aigen Investment Management LP bought a new position in Williams Companies during the third quarter valued at about $322,000. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in Williams Companies by 4.1% during the third quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 12,357 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $564,000 after acquiring an additional 492 shares during the period. Finally, Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. increased its stake in Williams Companies by 1.0% during the third quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 141,508 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $6,460,000 after acquiring an additional 1,427 shares during the period. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Micheal G. Dunn sold 96,687 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.04, for a total transaction of $5,128,278.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 714,693 shares in the company, valued at $37,907,316.72. This represents a 11.92 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Chad A. Teply sold 26,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.46, for a total transaction of $1,467,960.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 133,048 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,511,890.08. This represents a 16.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 139,583 shares of company stock valued at $7,563,278. Company insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WMB opened at $57.33 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $69.91 billion, a PE ratio of 31.33, a PEG ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a current ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1-year low of $36.69 and a 1-year high of $61.46. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $56.78 and a 200 day moving average price of $53.46.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The pipeline company reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47. Williams Companies had a net margin of 21.17% and a return on equity of 15.85%. Research analysts predict that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. 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. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.49%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 109.29%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WMB has been the topic of several research reports. Citigroup boosted their price target on Williams Companies from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. CIBC boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Scotiabank boosted their price objective 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. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Williams Companies currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $55.07.

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.