Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) is CapWealth Advisors LLC's 2nd Largest Position

CapWealth Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 1.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 802,971 shares of the pipeline company's stock after selling 14,230 shares during the quarter. Williams Companies comprises approximately 5.2% of CapWealth Advisors LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. CapWealth Advisors LLC owned 0.07% of Williams Companies worth $47,986,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Williams Companies by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 130,356,165 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $7,054,876,000 after buying an additional 1,008,213 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Williams Companies by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 31,263,235 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $1,687,797,000 after buying an additional 540,533 shares during the period. Blackstone Inc. increased its holdings in Williams Companies by 36.5% in the 4th quarter. Blackstone Inc. now owns 18,954,088 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $1,025,795,000 after buying an additional 5,068,738 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in Williams Companies by 12.5% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 15,236,940 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $824,623,000 after purchasing an additional 1,696,618 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Williams Companies in the 4th quarter worth approximately $575,103,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have commented on the company. Wolfe Research upgraded Williams Companies from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research report on Friday, June 13th. Barclays increased their target price on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Scotiabank increased their target price on Williams Companies from $52.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 5th. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $63.00 target price on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Williams Companies from $58.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 25th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $61.69.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.70, for a total value of $125,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 315,645 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,790,941.50. This trade represents a 0.63% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.44% of the company's stock.

Williams Companies Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of NYSE:WMB traded down $0.05 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $57.80. 7,342,540 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,075,606. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $59.43 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $57.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 0.40 and a quick ratio of 0.36. The stock has a market cap of $70.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.91, a P/E/G ratio of 4.27 and a beta of 0.65. Williams Companies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $40.41 and a fifty-two week high of $63.45.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $3.05 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.90 billion. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 15.95% and a net margin of 21.18%. Williams Companies's revenue was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.59 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 13th. Williams Companies's payout ratio is presently 106.95%.

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.