Insider Selling: The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) SVP Sells $90,580.00 in Stock

The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.29, for a total transaction of $90,580.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 304,200 shares in the company, valued at $13,777,218. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Williams Companies Trading Up 2.9 %

NYSE WMB opened at $49.63 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $60.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.54 and a beta of 1.05. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a twelve month low of $32.63 and a twelve month high of $49.67. The company has a quick ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64. The business’s fifty day moving average is $44.75 and its 200 day moving average is $42.00.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced 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. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 16.17% and a net margin of 27.11%. The firm had revenue of $2.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.46 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.42 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th were paid a dividend of $0.475 per share. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.83%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is currently 79.83%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Williams Companies

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of WMB. Blackstone Inc. grew its position in shares of Williams Companies by 109.1% in the 1st quarter. Blackstone Inc. now owns 6,466,660 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $252,006,000 after buying an additional 3,373,800 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in Williams Companies by 21.3% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 11,593,482 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $403,801,000 after acquiring an additional 2,039,703 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC increased its position in Williams Companies by 40.1% during the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 5,753,223 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $224,203,000 after purchasing an additional 1,647,469 shares during the period. First Financial Bankshares Inc bought a new position in Williams Companies during the 4th quarter worth approximately $56,223,000. Finally, Morningstar Investment Services LLC lifted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 3,821.2% in the 4th quarter. Morningstar Investment Services LLC now owns 1,579,718 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $55,180,000 after purchasing an additional 1,539,431 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on WMB. Citigroup increased their price target on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. StockNews.com lowered Williams Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Williams Companies from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $44.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Williams Companies has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $45.23.

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.