Focus Partners Wealth Sells 7,588 Shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Focus Partners Wealth reduced its holdings in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 1.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 656,075 shares of the pipeline company's stock after selling 7,588 shares during the period. Focus Partners Wealth owned 0.05% of Williams Companies worth $35,569,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft grew its holdings in Williams Companies by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft now owns 5,568 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $300,000 after acquiring an additional 180 shares during the period. EP Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 17,889 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $968,000 after purchasing an additional 183 shares in the last quarter. Albion Financial Group UT boosted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 18.4% during the 4th quarter. Albion Financial Group UT now owns 1,184 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $64,000 after purchasing an additional 184 shares in the last quarter. Sprinkle Financial Consultants LLC boosted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. Sprinkle Financial Consultants LLC now owns 5,073 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $275,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AMG National Trust Bank boosted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. AMG National Trust Bank now owns 30,813 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $1,669,000 after purchasing an additional 186 shares in the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on WMB shares. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $60.50.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Williams Companies stock traded up $0.09 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $58.16. The company's stock had a trading volume of 5,166,815 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,656,264. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12-month low of $39.88 and a 12-month high of $61.67. The company has a market capitalization of $70.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.78, a PEG 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 firm's fifty day moving average price is $57.99 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $56.77.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly 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. The firm had revenue of $3.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.90 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 21.17% and a return on equity of 15.85%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.59 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.44%. Williams Companies's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 106.95%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Williams Companies news, COO Micheal G. Dunn sold 96,687 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.04, for a total value of $5,128,278.48. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 714,693 shares of the company's stock, valued at $37,907,316.72. The trade was a 11.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Chad A. Teply sold 26,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.46, for a total transaction of $1,467,960.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 133,048 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,511,890.08. This represents a 16.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 139,583 shares of company stock worth $7,563,278. Corporate 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.