Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) Shares Sold by CNB Bank

CNB Bank trimmed its position in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 21.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 19,825 shares of the pipeline company's stock after selling 5,440 shares during the period. CNB Bank's holdings in Williams Companies were worth $1,185,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Williams Companies by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 130,356,165 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $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% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 31,263,235 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $1,687,797,000 after acquiring an additional 540,533 shares during the period. Blackstone Inc. raised its stake in Williams Companies by 36.5% in the 4th 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 last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in Williams Companies by 12.5% during the 4th 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 acquired a new stake in Williams Companies during the 4th quarter worth about $575,103,000. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have commented on WMB shares. CIBC lifted their price target on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Williams Companies from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $63.00 price target on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Williams Companies from $58.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised 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 seven have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Williams Companies presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $61.25.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

NYSE WMB opened at $62.85 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $59.31 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $57.57. The firm has a market capitalization of $76.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.61, a PEG ratio of 4.48 and a beta of 0.65. Williams Companies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $40.41 and a fifty-two week high of $62.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.40.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $3.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.90 billion. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 15.95% and a net margin of 21.18%. Williams Companies's quarterly revenue was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.59 EPS. On average, 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 will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.18%. Williams Companies's payout ratio 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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