Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC lowered its stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 31.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,661 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 3,529 shares during the quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $350,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in WMB. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. increased its stake in Williams Companies by 9.2% in the 1st quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 31,557 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,230,000 after acquiring an additional 2,666 shares during the last quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. lifted its position in Williams Companies by 13.4% during the first quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 116,052 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $4,523,000 after purchasing an additional 13,709 shares during the last quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC grew its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 2.8% in the 1st quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC now owns 13,690 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $534,000 after buying an additional 371 shares in the last quarter. M&G Plc bought a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the 1st quarter worth about $1,036,000. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Williams Companies by 97.7% during the 1st quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 24,333 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $948,000 after buying an additional 12,022 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Williams Companies news, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 7,951 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.30, for a total value of $447,641.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 25,858 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,455,805.40. The trade was a 23.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.29, for a total transaction of $90,580.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 304,200 shares in the company, valued at $13,777,218. This represents a 0.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Williams Companies Trading Down 0.0 %

WMB opened at $55.58 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 0.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $49.48 and its two-hundred day moving average is $44.74. The company has a market capitalization of $67.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.45, a PEG ratio of 5.56 and a beta of 1.03. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52 week low of $32.65 and a 52 week high of $57.33.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.52 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.45 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.475 per share. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.42%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is 80.17%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WMB has been the topic of several analyst reports. StockNews.com cut Williams Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Citigroup raised their price target on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Williams Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $52.00 to $58.00 in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Royal Bank of Canada increased 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 Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $50.38.

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.