Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) Shares Sold by Howard Capital Management Inc.

Howard Capital Management Inc. lowered its stake in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 8.7% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 11,548 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 1,104 shares during the quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $690,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Williams Companies by 101.8% during the 1st quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. now owns 26,032 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,556,000 after purchasing an additional 13,129 shares in the last quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors increased its position in shares of Williams Companies by 489.0% during the first quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 62,148 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $3,714,000 after acquiring an additional 51,596 shares during the last quarter. Eastern Bank increased its position in shares of Williams Companies by 939.3% during the first quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 925 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $55,000 after acquiring an additional 836 shares during the last quarter. Vestcor Inc grew its stake in Williams Companies by 6.3% during the 1st quarter. Vestcor Inc now owns 58,374 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $3,488,000 after purchasing an additional 3,476 shares in the last quarter. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd increased its holdings in Williams Companies by 1,003.4% during the 1st quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 62,219 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $3,718,000 after purchasing an additional 56,580 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Shares of WMB stock opened at $59.92 on Friday. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52 week low of $40.41 and a 52 week high of $63.45. The company has a market cap of $73.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.04, a PEG ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.63. The business has a 50 day moving average of $59.42 and a two-hundred day moving average of $58.27.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.05. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 15.95% and a net margin of 21.18%. The business had revenue of $3.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.90 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.59 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 12th. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is presently 106.95%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. TD Cowen assumed coverage on Williams Companies in a report on Monday, July 7th. They set a “buy” rating and a $67.00 price objective on the stock. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $59.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $63.00 price objective on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded Williams Companies from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Friday, June 13th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $61.77.

Insider Transactions at Williams Companies

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.70, for a total transaction of $125,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 315,645 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,790,941.50. The trade was a 0.63% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.44% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.