Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) Shares Sold by Brown Advisory Inc.

Brown Advisory Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 16.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 56,255 shares of the pipeline company's stock after selling 10,851 shares during the quarter. Brown Advisory Inc.'s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $3,362,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Gibraltar Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the 1st quarter valued at about $2,653,000. Abound Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Williams Companies during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. raised its stake in Williams Companies by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 60,820 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $3,635,000 after acquiring an additional 663 shares during the last quarter. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Williams Companies by 147.5% during the 1st quarter. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 173,812 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $10,387,000 after acquiring an additional 103,580 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Williams Companies by 5.3% during the 1st quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,409,627 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $263,519,000 after acquiring an additional 221,075 shares during the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.70, for a total value of $125,400.00. Following 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.44% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have commented on WMB shares. Wolfe Research raised Williams Companies from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research note on Friday, June 13th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Williams Companies from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. Barclays boosted their target price on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. 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, TD Cowen began coverage on Williams Companies in a research report on Monday, July 7th. They set a "buy" rating and a $67.00 target price on the stock. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $61.69.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

WMB opened at $58.25 on Friday. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $59.37 and its 200 day simple moving average is $57.98. The stock has a market cap of $71.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.15, a P/E/G ratio of 4.30 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, Inc. has a 1-year low of $40.41 and a 1-year high of $63.45.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.05. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 15.95% and a net margin of 21.18%. The firm had revenue of $3.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.90 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.59 EPS. Williams Companies's quarterly revenue was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

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

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.

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