Ascent Group LLC Sells 3,491 Shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Ascent Group LLC cut its holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 72,556 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 3,491 shares during the period. Ascent Group LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $3,312,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in WMB. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. grew its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. now owns 12,670,175 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $538,482,000 after buying an additional 144,713 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 3.3% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,648,918 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $410,064,000 after buying an additional 311,530 shares in the last quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. increased its position in shares of Williams Companies by 8.8% during the second quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 7,664,152 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $325,726,000 after acquiring an additional 618,056 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Williams Companies by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,239,210 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $330,470,000 after acquiring an additional 67,016 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in Williams Companies by 20.1% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 6,117,298 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $259,985,000 after buying an additional 1,024,158 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on WMB shares. StockNews.com downgraded Williams Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. CIBC lifted their price objective on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $42.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $51.79.

Williams Companies Price Performance

WMB opened at $58.52 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 0.57 and a quick ratio of 0.51. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $52.65 and its 200 day simple moving average is $46.38. The firm has a market cap of $71.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.69, a PEG ratio of 6.00 and a beta of 1.05. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $32.65 and a 1 year high of $60.36.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued its 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. Williams Companies had a net margin of 27.36% and a return on equity of 15.89%. The firm had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.52 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.45 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.475 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.25%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 80.17%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Williams Companies news, 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 value of $90,580.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 304,200 shares in the company, valued at $13,777,218. This trade represents a 0.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 7,951 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction that occurred 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 in the company, valued at approximately $1,455,805.40. The trade was a 23.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.44% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.