Mary A. Hausman Sells 7,951 Shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) Stock

The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 7,951 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.30, for a total transaction of $447,641.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 25,858 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,455,805.40. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Williams Companies stock traded up $0.07 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $56.97. The company had a trading volume of 378,995 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,227,587. The company has a current ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12-month low of $32.65 and a 12-month high of $57.33. The company’s fifty day moving average is $49.03 and its 200-day moving average is $44.54. The company has a market capitalization of $69.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.01, a P/E/G ratio of 6.37 and a beta of 1.03.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.01. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 15.89% and a net margin of 27.36%. The firm had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.52 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.45 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.91 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a $0.475 dividend. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.34%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 80.17%.

Institutional Trading of Williams Companies

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Williams Companies by 10.9% during the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 912,627 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $41,661,000 after purchasing an additional 89,635 shares during the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Williams Companies by 47.0% during the 3rd quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 52,845 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $2,412,000 after acquiring an additional 16,885 shares during the period. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. boosted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 22.8% in the 3rd quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 146,333 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $6,680,000 after buying an additional 27,186 shares during the period. King Luther Capital Management Corp boosted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 60.6% in the 3rd quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp now owns 75,488 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $3,446,000 after buying an additional 28,473 shares during the period. Finally, Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI raised its position in shares of Williams Companies by 35.0% during the 3rd quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 17,542 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $801,000 after acquiring an additional 4,548 shares in the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on WMB. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $55.00 target price for the company. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $50.38.

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.