Covestor Ltd Sells 977 Shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Covestor Ltd trimmed its holdings in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 36.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,669 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 977 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $65,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $306,417,000. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 21.3% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 11,593,482 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $403,801,000 after purchasing an additional 2,039,703 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC increased its position in shares of Williams Companies by 69.2% during the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 4,105,754 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $143,003,000 after purchasing an additional 1,679,452 shares in the last quarter. First Financial Bankshares Inc bought a new position in Williams Companies during the 4th quarter valued at about $56,223,000. Finally, Morningstar Investment Services LLC grew its stake in Williams Companies by 3,821.2% during the fourth quarter. Morningstar Investment Services LLC now owns 1,579,718 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $55,180,000 after buying an additional 1,539,431 shares during the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Williams Companies

In other news, SVP Debbie L. Pickle sold 38,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.61, for a total value of $1,513,102.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 60,410 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,392,840.10. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. US Capital Advisors downgraded Williams Companies from an “overweight” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 29th. CIBC upped their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $43.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Argus raised shares of Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 20th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on Williams Companies from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, July 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Williams Companies currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $41.77.

Williams Companies Stock Down 3.6 %

WMB stock opened at $42.49 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $51.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.85, a P/E/G ratio of 6.90 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a quick ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a twelve month low of $32.49 and a twelve month high of $45.10. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $41.94 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $38.55.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $2.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.69 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 27.29% and a return on equity of 16.27%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.56 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 24th. Investors of record on Friday, June 7th were paid a $0.475 dividend. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 7th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 79.83%.

Williams Companies Company 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.