The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) Shares Sold by Stablepoint Partners LLC

Stablepoint Partners LLC cut its stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 5.9% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 36,713 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 2,301 shares during the period. Stablepoint Partners LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $1,676,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of WMB. Blackstone Inc. raised its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 109.1% in the first quarter. Blackstone Inc. now owns 6,466,660 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $252,006,000 after purchasing an additional 3,373,800 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in Williams Companies by 21.3% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 11,593,482 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $403,801,000 after buying an additional 2,039,703 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 1,647,469 shares during the period. Castle Hook Partners LP purchased a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the 1st quarter valued at $57,220,000. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 5.9% in the first quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 20,983,727 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $817,736,000 after acquiring an additional 1,175,628 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 owns 304,200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,777,218. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Price Performance

NYSE WMB traded up $0.25 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $50.73. The stock had a trading volume of 292,579 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,267,641. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $45.43 and its 200 day moving average is $42.46. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $61.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.21, a PEG ratio of 6.89 and a beta of 1.05. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a twelve month low of $32.65 and a twelve month high of $50.81.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued its 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. The business had revenue of $2.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.46 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 27.11% and a return on equity of 16.17%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.42 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th were issued a dividend of $0.475 per share. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 13th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 79.83%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com cut Williams Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Seaport Res Ptn cut shares of Williams Companies from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $44.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Scotiabank increased their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, UBS Group lifted 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $46.08.

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.