Terrance Lane Wilson Sells 2,000 Shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) Stock

The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.29, for a total value of $90,580.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 304,200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,777,218. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:WMB traded up $1.15 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $47.51. The company had a trading volume of 3,983,020 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,293,173. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a twelve month low of $32.49 and a twelve month high of $47.52. The stock has a market cap of $57.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.20 and a beta of 1.05. 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 simple moving average is $44.38 and its 200-day simple moving average is $41.83.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its quarterly 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. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 16.17% and a net margin of 27.11%. The business had revenue of $2.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.46 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.42 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th were paid a $0.475 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.00%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 79.83%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently commented on WMB shares. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Williams Companies from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Argus upgraded shares of Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 20th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $44.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Williams Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $38.00 to $46.00 in a research note on Tuesday, June 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $43.83.

Institutional Trading of Williams Companies

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Williams Companies by 15.7% during the first quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 108,302 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $4,221,000 after acquiring an additional 14,672 shares during the last quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S grew its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 145.5% during the 1st quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 95,359 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $3,716,000 after purchasing an additional 56,509 shares during the period. Chickasaw Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Williams Companies by 3.5% during the 1st quarter. Chickasaw Capital Management LLC now owns 1,644,620 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $64,091,000 after purchasing an additional 56,013 shares during the last quarter. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd purchased a new stake in Williams Companies in the 1st quarter valued at about $2,364,000. Finally, Tortoise Index Solutions LLC lifted its position in Williams Companies by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Tortoise Index Solutions LLC now owns 1,105,106 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $38,491,000 after buying an additional 20,896 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

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.