The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) Shares Sold by Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC.

Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. lowered its stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 3.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 8,576 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 292 shares during the quarter. Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC.’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $325,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Western Pacific Wealth Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Rise Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the first quarter worth about $27,000. Fairman Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, CGC Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the fourth quarter worth about $35,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams Companies

In other news, SVP Debbie L. Pickle sold 38,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.61, for a total value of $1,513,102.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 60,410 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,392,840.10. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on WMB. Stifel Nicolaus raised 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, May 8th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Williams Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $38.00 to $46.00 in a report on Tuesday, June 4th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $43.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Williams Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $41.42.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Shares of WMB opened at $42.51 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62. The firm has a market cap of $51.81 billion, a PE ratio of 17.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.63 and a beta of 1.05. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $40.60 and its 200-day simple moving average is $37.55. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12-month low of $31.98 and a 12-month high of $43.22.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its earnings results on Monday, May 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $2.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.69 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 27.29% and a return on equity of 16.27%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.56 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.85 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 24th. Investors of record on Friday, June 7th were given a $0.475 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 7th. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.47%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 79.83%.

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.