The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) Position Trimmed by Equity Investment Corp

Equity Investment Corp lowered its stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 21.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,516,050 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 689,534 shares during the period. Williams Companies makes up about 2.7% of Equity Investment Corp’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest holding. Equity Investment Corp owned approximately 0.21% of Williams Companies worth $106,932,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of WMB. Jump Financial LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 11.0% during the fourth quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 14,707 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $512,000 after purchasing an additional 1,457 shares during the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 6.9% in the fourth quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 26,954 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $939,000 after buying an additional 1,734 shares during the period. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. increased its position in shares of Williams Companies by 53.3% in the fourth quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 28,891 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,006,000 after acquiring an additional 10,045 shares in the last quarter. M&G Investment Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,128,000. Finally, Quadrant Capital Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 7.1% in the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 16,669 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $581,000 after acquiring an additional 1,103 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE WMB opened at $45.09 on Friday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $43.73 and its 200-day simple moving average is $40.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a current ratio of 0.45. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52 week low of $32.49 and a 52 week high of $45.81. The firm has a market cap of $54.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.95, a P/E/G ratio of 6.12 and a beta of 1.05.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $2.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.46 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 27.11% and a return on equity of 16.17%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.42 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th will be given a dividend of $0.475 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.21%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 79.83%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on WMB. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $41.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 19th. Scotiabank lifted their price target on Williams Companies from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Truist Financial increased their price objective on Williams Companies from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Williams Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $38.00 to $46.00 in a research report on Tuesday, June 4th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Williams Companies from $44.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $42.83.

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.