The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) Shares Sold by Ensign Peak Advisors Inc

Ensign Peak Advisors Inc trimmed its position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 11.6% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 532,350 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 70,043 shares during the quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $22,625,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Williams Companies by 2.8% during the 2nd quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 9,298 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $395,000 after acquiring an additional 257 shares in the last quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. lifted its holdings in Williams Companies by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 31,206 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,326,000 after buying an additional 260 shares in the last quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC boosted its holdings in Williams Companies by 1.2% in the first quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 22,683 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $884,000 after purchasing an additional 274 shares during the last quarter. Everett Harris & Co. CA increased its holdings in Williams Companies by 1.8% during the 1st quarter. Everett Harris & Co. CA now owns 15,175 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $591,000 after purchasing an additional 275 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Schulhoff & Co. Inc. increased its holdings in Williams Companies by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. Schulhoff & Co. Inc. now owns 17,883 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $697,000 after purchasing an additional 276 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on WMB shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Williams Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $38.00 to $46.00 in a research report on Tuesday, June 4th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $41.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, August 19th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 10th. Argus upgraded Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 20th. Finally, Scotiabank upped their price target on Williams Companies from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $43.50.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Shares of WMB opened at $45.38 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $55.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.24 and a beta of 1.05. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $44.06 and its 200-day moving average is $41.38. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a one year low of $32.49 and a one year high of $45.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a current ratio of 0.45.

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

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be given a $0.475 dividend. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.19%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 79.83%.

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.