Insider Selling: The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) CAO Sells 7,951 Shares of Stock

The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 7,951 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.30, for a total value of $447,641.30. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 25,858 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,455,805.40. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link.

Williams Companies Stock Down 2.0 %

Shares of NYSE WMB opened at $55.60 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $49.25 and a 200 day simple moving average of $44.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 0.57 and a quick ratio of 0.51. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $32.65 and a 1 year high of $57.33. The firm has a market cap of $67.78 billion, a PE ratio of 23.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.56 and a beta of 1.03.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.01. Williams Companies had a net margin of 27.36% and a return on equity of 15.89%. The firm had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.52 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.45 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.01 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a $0.475 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.42%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 80.17%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. CIBC increased their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Barclays raised their target price on Williams Companies from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their price target on Williams Companies from $42.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $50.38.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Williams Companies

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Atomi Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in Williams Companies in the first quarter valued at approximately $242,000. Sei Investments Co. boosted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 18.9% in the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 936,849 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $36,509,000 after purchasing an additional 148,647 shares during the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 9.1% in the 1st quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 29,396 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,146,000 after purchasing an additional 2,442 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its stake in Williams Companies by 58.1% during the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 1,404,198 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $54,692,000 after buying an additional 515,823 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Avantax Advisory Services Inc. lifted its holdings in Williams Companies by 9.2% in the first quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 31,557 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,230,000 after buying an additional 2,666 shares during the period. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.