Richard C. Young & CO. LTD. Reduces Stock Position in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB)

Richard C. Young & CO. LTD. lowered its stake in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 3.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 324,404 shares of the pipeline company's stock after selling 10,501 shares during the period. Williams Companies makes up 2.1% of Richard C. Young & CO. LTD.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest holding. Richard C. Young & CO. LTD.'s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $19,386,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on WMB. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $59.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. TD Cowen initiated coverage on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Monday, July 7th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $67.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Wolfe Research raised shares of Williams Companies from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research report on Friday, June 13th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $61.77.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Shares of Williams Companies stock traded up $1.29 on Friday, reaching $59.38. 7,919,170 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,121,070. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52 week low of $40.41 and a 52 week high of $63.45. The company has a 50 day moving average of $59.36 and a 200 day moving average of $58.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $72.41 billion, a PE ratio of 31.75, a PEG ratio of 4.33 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 0.40 and a quick ratio of 0.36.

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 analysts' consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $3.05 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.90 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 21.18% and a return on equity of 15.95%. The company's revenue was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.59 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.37%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 13th. Williams Companies's payout ratio is currently 106.95%.

Insider Activity at Williams Companies

In related news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the senior vice president directly owned 315,645 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,790,941.50. This represents a 0.63% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.44% of the company's stock.

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.