Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Decreases Position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lessened its holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 19.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 27,416,635 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 6,483,749 shares during the quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned 2.25% of Williams Companies worth $1,068,428,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WMB. Brookstone Capital Management purchased a new position in Williams Companies in the 4th quarter worth $222,000. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its position in shares of Williams Companies by 121.6% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 58,549 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $2,039,000 after acquiring an additional 32,125 shares during the period. CVA Family Office LLC purchased a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the fourth quarter valued at about $52,000. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Williams Companies by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 844,209 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $29,404,000 after acquiring an additional 14,232 shares during the period. Finally, Schechter Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the fourth quarter valued at about $309,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Williams Companies

In related news, SVP Debbie L. Pickle sold 38,200 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.61, for a total transaction of $1,513,102.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 60,410 shares in the company, valued at $2,392,840.10. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.44% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on WMB shares. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 10th. StockNews.com cut shares of Williams Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 26th. Wolfe Research restated an “underperform” rating and issued a $34.00 price objective on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 13th. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $41.77.

Williams Companies Stock Up 1.7 %

NYSE:WMB traded up $0.70 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $42.52. 5,567,552 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,498,141. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a one year low of $32.49 and a one year high of $45.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62, a current ratio of 0.52 and a quick ratio of 0.48. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $41.98 and a 200 day moving average price of $38.65. The company has a market cap of $51.82 billion, a PE ratio of 17.87, a P/E/G ratio of 6.65 and a beta of 1.05.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $2.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.69 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 27.29% and a return on equity of 16.27%. Williams Companies’s quarterly revenue was down 10.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.56 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.85 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 24th. Investors of record on Friday, June 7th were given a dividend of $0.475 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 7th. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.47%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.