OneAscent Financial Services LLC Trims Stock Position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

OneAscent Financial Services LLC lessened its stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 21.3% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,938 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 2,958 shares during the period. OneAscent Financial Services LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $426,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Western Pacific Wealth Management LP acquired a new position in Williams Companies during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Rise Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the first quarter worth $27,000. Fairman Group LLC acquired a new stake in Williams Companies in the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, CGC Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in Williams Companies in the fourth quarter valued at $35,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams Companies

In other news, SVP Debbie L. Pickle sold 38,200 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.61, for a total transaction of $1,513,102.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 60,410 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,392,840.10. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on WMB shares. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Williams Companies from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Williams Companies from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, June 13th. Wolfe Research restated an “underperform” rating and set a $34.00 target price on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $37.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price target on Williams Companies from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $41.42.

Williams Companies Trading Up 0.6 %

Williams Companies stock traded up $0.26 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $42.50. 8,506,931 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,084,668. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $40.60 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $37.55. The company has a quick ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $51.80 billion, a PE ratio of 17.86, a P/E/G ratio of 6.63 and a beta of 1.05. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52 week low of $31.98 and a 52 week high of $43.22.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released its earnings results on Monday, May 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.10. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 16.27% and a net margin of 27.29%. The firm had revenue of $2.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.69 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.56 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 7th were issued a $0.475 dividend. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 7th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 79.83%.

About Williams Companies

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.