Insider Selling: The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) SVP Sells 38,200 Shares of Stock

The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) SVP Debbie L. Pickle sold 38,200 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.61, for a total transaction of $1,513,102.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 60,410 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,392,840.10. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Shares of WMB traded up $0.06 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $39.64. The company had a trading volume of 4,643,922 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,937,401. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $38.17 and its 200 day simple moving average is $36.11. The company has a market capitalization of $48.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.62, a P/E/G ratio of 6.13 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 0.77. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1-year low of $28.27 and a 1-year high of $39.99.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.10. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 16.40% and a net margin of 27.29%. The business had revenue of $2.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.69 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.56 EPS. Williams Companies's quarterly revenue was down 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.82 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 24th. Investors of record on Friday, June 7th will be issued a $0.475 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 7th. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.79%. Williams Companies's payout ratio is 79.83%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on WMB. Truist Financial upped their price objective on Williams Companies from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, March 25th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $37.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday. Wolfe Research reiterated an "underperform" rating and issued a $34.00 target price on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on Williams Companies from $43.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $39.42.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Cornerstone Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Williams Companies by 12.9% during the first quarter. Cornerstone Advisors LLC now owns 22,800 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $889,000 after buying an additional 2,600 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Williams Companies by 97.7% in the 1st quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 24,333 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $948,000 after acquiring an additional 12,022 shares in the last quarter. M&G Plc acquired a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the 1st quarter valued at about $1,036,000. GM Advisory Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 2.0% in the 1st quarter. GM Advisory Group LLC now owns 15,277 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $595,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the period. Finally, Great Lakes Retirement Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 4.9% during the 1st quarter. Great Lakes Retirement Inc. now owns 208,630 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $8,130,000 after buying an additional 9,748 shares in the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.