M&T Bank Corp Cuts Stake in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB)

M&T Bank Corp cut its position in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 4.9% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 92,729 shares of the pipeline company's stock after selling 4,763 shares during the quarter. M&T Bank Corp's holdings in Williams Companies were worth $5,542,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the fourth quarter worth $575,103,000. Blackstone Inc. lifted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 36.5% in the fourth 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 last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 2,303.2% in the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 3,517,336 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $190,358,000 after buying an additional 3,370,974 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 6,407.2% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,238,490 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $133,772,000 after buying an additional 2,204,090 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Castle Hook Partners LP boosted its holdings in Williams Companies by 69.1% in the 4th quarter. Castle Hook Partners LP now owns 5,055,184 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $273,587,000 after purchasing an additional 2,065,906 shares during the period. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the senior vice president owned 315,645 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,790,941.50. The trade was a 0.63% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.44% of the company's stock.

Williams Companies Trading Up 0.8%

Shares of NYSE WMB traded up $0.47 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $58.25. The stock had a trading volume of 7,545,940 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,116,136. The firm has a market cap of $71.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.30 and a beta of 0.65. Williams Companies, Inc. has a twelve month low of $40.41 and a twelve month high of $63.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.40. The company's 50 day moving average price is $59.37 and its 200 day moving average price is $57.98.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 analyst estimates of $2.90 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 21.18% and a return on equity of 15.95%. Williams Companies's revenue for the quarter was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.59 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 13th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.43%. Williams Companies's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 106.95%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WMB has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $63.00 price objective on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Friday, May 16th. Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $52.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 5th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Wolfe Research raised shares of Williams Companies from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research note on Friday, June 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $58.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $61.69.

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.