Westwood Holdings Group Inc. Sells 2,909 Shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Westwood Holdings Group Inc. cut its stake in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 0.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,897,965 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 2,909 shares during the period. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. owned about 0.32% of Williams Companies worth $165,664,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Rise Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Fairman Group LLC purchased a new position in Williams Companies during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. SouthState Corp bought a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the second quarter worth approximately $31,000. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the second quarter worth $34,000. Finally, Alaska Permanent Fund Corp bought a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the 1st quarter valued at $46,000. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE WMB opened at $45.38 on Friday. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1-year low of $32.49 and a 1-year high of $45.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 0.45 and a quick ratio of 0.39. The business’s 50 day moving average is $44.06 and its two-hundred day moving average is $41.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $55.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.07, a PEG ratio of 6.24 and a beta of 1.05.

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

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.475 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.19%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 79.83%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on WMB. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $44.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 10th. Scotiabank boosted their price target on Williams Companies from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $41.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, August 19th. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $43.50.

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.