B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. Sells 22,435 Shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. lowered its position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 19.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 93,548 shares of the pipeline company's stock after selling 22,435 shares during the quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $5,063,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WMB. Quent Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Williams Companies during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Bank of Jackson Hole Trust bought a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. AlphaMark Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Williams Companies during the 4th quarter worth $27,000. Sandy Spring Bank acquired a new stake in Williams Companies in the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Finally, Hoey Investments Inc. bought a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Williams Companies

In related news, COO Micheal G. Dunn sold 96,687 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.04, for a total value of $5,128,278.48. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 714,693 shares in the company, valued at approximately $37,907,316.72. This represents a 11.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Larry C. Larsen sold 8,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.94, for a total transaction of $455,520.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 81,265 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,627,229.10. The trade was a 8.96% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 113,583 shares of company stock valued at $6,095,318. 0.44% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on WMB. Citigroup raised their target price on Williams Companies from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and set a $63.00 price objective on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Friday, May 16th. 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 report on Friday, March 21st. Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, CIBC upped their price target on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $60.75.

Williams Companies Stock Down 0.7%

NYSE:WMB traded down $0.40 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $60.22. 6,661,890 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,690,905. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $58.36 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $57.17. The firm has a market cap of $73.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.91, a P/E/G ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.50. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a twelve month low of $40.06 and a twelve month high of $61.67.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last issued 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 company had revenue of $3.05 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.90 billion. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 15.85% and a net margin of 21.17%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.59 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.32%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. Williams Companies's dividend payout ratio is currently 106.95%.

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.