Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. Sells 14,583 Shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. decreased its position in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 4.4% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 319,367 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 14,583 shares during the quarter. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A.’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $19,085,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Van Lanschot Kempen Investment Management N.V. increased its position in shares of Williams Companies by 10.2% in the first quarter. Van Lanschot Kempen Investment Management N.V. now owns 501,198 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $29,952,000 after acquiring an additional 46,240 shares during the period. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S increased its position in shares of Williams Companies by 203.6% in the first quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 126,245 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $7,544,000 after acquiring an additional 84,663 shares during the period. Texas Capital Bank Wealth Management Services Inc purchased a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the first quarter valued at about $347,000. Quantbot Technologies LP increased its position in shares of Williams Companies by 324.1% in the first quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 161,590 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $9,657,000 after acquiring an additional 123,491 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of Williams Companies by 6.0% in the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 29,624,104 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,770,336,000 after acquiring an additional 1,680,477 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on WMB. Argus restated a “buy” rating and issued a $66.00 price objective on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. CIBC upgraded shares of Williams Companies from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and set a $64.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday. TD Cowen started coverage on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Monday, July 7th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $67.00 price objective on the stock. Cibc World Mkts upgraded shares of Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $62.86.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Larry C. Larsen sold 4,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.47, for a total transaction of $263,115.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 77,612 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,537,973.64. The trade was a 5.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.68, for a total transaction of $119,360.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 313,645 shares in the company, valued at $18,718,333.60. The trade was a 0.63% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 8,500 shares of company stock worth $507,875 in the last three months. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Williams Companies Trading Down 1.6%

NYSE:WMB opened at $56.54 on Tuesday. Williams Companies, Inc. has a one year low of $43.96 and a one year high of $63.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73, a current ratio of 0.54 and a quick ratio of 0.48. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $58.95 and its 200 day simple moving average is $58.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $68.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.41, a PEG ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 0.66.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.46 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.49 by ($0.03). Williams Companies had a return on equity of 16.23% and a net margin of 21.63%. The business had revenue of $2.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.90 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.43 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 19.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 29th. Investors of record on Friday, September 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 12th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.5%. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is presently 100.50%.

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.