XML Financial LLC Has $278,000 Stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

XML Financial LLC trimmed its stake in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 21.2% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,548 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 1,762 shares during the period. XML Financial LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $278,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Williams Companies in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $306,417,000. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Williams Companies by 15.7% in the first quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 108,302 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $4,221,000 after buying an additional 14,672 shares during the period. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S lifted its holdings in Williams Companies by 145.5% in the first quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 95,359 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $3,716,000 after buying an additional 56,509 shares during the period. ETF Store Inc. lifted its holdings in Williams Companies by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. ETF Store Inc. now owns 28,444 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $991,000 after buying an additional 899 shares during the period. Finally, Eagle Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Williams Companies by 24.5% in the fourth quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,636,222 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $91,820,000 after buying an additional 518,009 shares during the period. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have commented on WMB shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Williams Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $38.00 to $46.00 in a research note on Tuesday, June 4th. CIBC upped their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 13th. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Williams Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Williams Companies currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $42.58.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Shares of WMB stock traded up $0.18 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $44.50. 4,053,612 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,540,858. The firm has a market capitalization of $54.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.70, a PEG ratio of 6.09 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a current ratio of 0.45. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $42.82 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $39.75. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52 week low of $32.49 and a 52 week high of $45.10.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $2.34 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.46 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 27.11% and a return on equity of 16.17%. The business’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 firm posted $0.42 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be given a $0.475 dividend. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.27%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is presently 79.83%.

Williams Companies 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.