Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC reduced its stake in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 34.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 268,176 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 143,632 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $14,514,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Balboa Wealth Partners raised its stake in Williams Companies by 66.5% in the fourth quarter. Balboa Wealth Partners now owns 10,208 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $552,000 after buying an additional 4,076 shares in the last quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC grew its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 8.5% during the 4th quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC now owns 12,897 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $698,000 after acquiring an additional 1,013 shares during the period. Vestcor Inc raised its position in shares of Williams Companies by 12.4% in the 4th quarter. Vestcor Inc now owns 54,898 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $2,971,000 after acquiring an additional 6,076 shares in the last quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. raised its position in shares of Williams Companies by 59.1% in the 4th quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 665 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 247 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Great Lakes Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC now owns 47,714 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $2,582,000 after purchasing an additional 408 shares during the period. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Shares of WMB opened at $58.42 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $71.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.92, a P/E/G ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 1.03. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $56.83 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $53.66. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12 month low of $36.84 and a 12 month high of $61.46. The company has a current ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The pipeline company reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.47. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 15.85% and a net margin of 21.17%. Research analysts anticipate that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.42%. This is a boost from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is presently 109.29%.

Insider Activity at Williams Companies

In other news, SVP Chad A. Teply sold 26,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.46, for a total value of $1,467,960.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 133,048 shares in the company, valued at $7,511,890.08. This represents a 16.35 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 8,896 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.50, for a total value of $511,520.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 22,339 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,284,492.50. This represents a 28.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 139,583 shares of company stock worth $7,563,278 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on WMB. Truist Financial increased their price objective on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. CIBC raised their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Williams Companies from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $55.07.

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.