The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) Shares Sold by Kentucky Retirement Systems

Kentucky Retirement Systems reduced its stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 0.6% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 91,841 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 544 shares during the period. Kentucky Retirement Systems’ holdings in Williams Companies were worth $3,903,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in WMB. Jump Financial LLC boosted its stake in Williams Companies by 11.0% during the 4th quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 14,707 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $512,000 after purchasing an additional 1,457 shares in the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. grew its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 53,218 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,854,000 after purchasing an additional 1,237 shares during the last quarter. ING Groep NV grew its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 339.1% in the 4th quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 15,856 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $552,000 after purchasing an additional 12,245 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 331,141 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $11,534,000 after purchasing an additional 7,668 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Coldstream Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in Williams Companies by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 17,420 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $607,000 after purchasing an additional 657 shares during the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

NYSE:WMB opened at $44.89 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $54.71 billion, a PE ratio of 18.86, a PEG ratio of 6.24 and a beta of 1.05. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $32.49 and a 1 year high of $45.82. The company has a current ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $44.01 and its 200 day simple moving average is $41.25.

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

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th will be given a dividend of $0.475 per share. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 79.83%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on WMB. Argus raised Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 20th. Barclays raised their price objective 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 research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Williams Companies from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their target price on Williams Companies from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. 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 company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price 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.