The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) CAO Sells $447,641.30 in Stock

The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 7,951 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,455,805.40. This represents a 23.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

WMB opened at $55.58 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $67.75 billion, a PE ratio of 23.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.73 and a beta of 1.03. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $49.48 and a 200-day moving average of $44.74. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52-week low of $32.65 and a 52-week high of $57.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a current ratio of 0.57.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.52 billion. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 15.89% and a net margin of 27.36%. The firm’s revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.45 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

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

Institutional Trading of Williams Companies

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Blackstone Inc. boosted its stake in Williams Companies by 109.1% during the 1st quarter. Blackstone Inc. now owns 6,466,660 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $252,006,000 after purchasing an additional 3,373,800 shares during the period. Castle Hook Partners LP bought a new stake in Williams Companies during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $57,220,000. Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its stake in Williams Companies by 5.9% during the 1st quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 20,983,727 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $817,736,000 after purchasing an additional 1,175,628 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in Williams Companies by 20.1% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 6,117,298 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $259,985,000 after purchasing an additional 1,024,158 shares during the period. Finally, BROOKFIELD Corp ON boosted its stake in Williams Companies by 11.8% during the 1st quarter. BROOKFIELD Corp ON now owns 5,896,375 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $229,782,000 after purchasing an additional 623,820 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on WMB. Barclays upped 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. CIBC upped their price target on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Bank of America began coverage on Williams Companies in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $55.00 price target on the stock. StockNews.com lowered Williams Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Finally, Mizuho upped their price target on Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $50.38.

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.