Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI Has $552,000 Stock Holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI boosted its holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 78.7% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 12,994 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,721 shares during the period. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $552,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WMB. Rise Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Williams Companies in the first quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Fairman Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. SouthState Corp bought a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the second quarter worth about $31,000. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the 2nd quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, Alaska Permanent Fund Corp acquired a new position in Williams Companies during the 1st quarter valued at about $46,000. 86.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Williams Companies Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of WMB stock opened at $45.18 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $55.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.98, a PEG ratio of 6.24 and a beta of 1.05. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $43.96 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $41.23. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $32.49 and a 1 year high of $45.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 0.45 and a quick ratio of 0.39.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.05. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 16.17% and a net margin of 27.11%. The firm had revenue of $2.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.46 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.42 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be given a dividend of $0.475 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.21%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 79.83%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on WMB. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded Williams Companies from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Argus upgraded Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 20th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $41.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 19th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Williams Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised Williams Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $38.00 to $46.00 in a research report on Tuesday, June 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Williams Companies currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $43.50.

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.