TD Private Client Wealth LLC Trims Stake in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB)

TD Private Client Wealth LLC reduced its position in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 26.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 33,189 shares of the pipeline company's stock after selling 11,741 shares during the quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC's holdings in Williams Companies were worth $1,983,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position 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 purchasing an additional 1,008,213 shares during the period. 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 during the period. 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 during the period. 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 during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the fourth quarter worth approximately $575,103,000. 86.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WMB has been the topic of a number of research reports. Scotiabank raised 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 report on Thursday, June 5th. TD Cowen initiated coverage on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Monday. They set a "buy" rating and a $67.00 target price on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price 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. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective 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. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $63.00 price objective on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $61.69.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Shares of WMB opened at $57.69 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $70.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.32 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 quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.63. The company has a 50 day moving average of $59.45 and a two-hundred day moving average of $57.91.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last announced 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 net margin of 21.18% and a return on equity of 15.95%. Williams Companies's revenue was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.59 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

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 dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 13th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.47%. Williams Companies's payout ratio is currently 106.95%.

Insider Activity at Williams Companies

In other news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of Williams Companies 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 directly owned 315,645 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,790,941.50. The trade was a 0.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.44% of the company's stock.

Williams Companies Company 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.

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