Advisors Asset Management Inc. Sells 34,898 Shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Advisors Asset Management Inc. lessened its holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 14.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 211,018 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 34,898 shares during the quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $8,223,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in WMB. Western Pacific Wealth Management LP bought a new position in Williams Companies during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Williams Companies during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Rise Advisors LLC bought a new position in Williams Companies during the 1st quarter worth approximately $27,000. Fairman Group LLC bought a new position in Williams Companies during the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Finally, Alaska Permanent Fund Corp bought a new position in Williams Companies during the 1st quarter worth approximately $46,000. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on WMB. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Wolfe Research reiterated an “underperform” rating and issued a $34.00 price objective on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 13th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 12th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Williams Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $41.77.

Insider Transactions at Williams Companies

In other news, SVP Debbie L. Pickle sold 38,200 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly 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 is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Stock Up 1.7 %

WMB traded up $0.70 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $42.52. 5,567,548 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,579,944. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.52. The stock has a market capitalization of $51.82 billion, a PE ratio of 17.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.65 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $41.95 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $38.58. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $32.49 and a 1 year high of $45.10.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $2.77 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.69 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 27.29% and a return on equity of 16.27%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.56 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.86 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 7th were paid a dividend of $0.475 per share. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.47%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 7th. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is 79.83%.

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.