Avior Wealth Management LLC Trims Stock Position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Avior Wealth Management LLC decreased its holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 72.1% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 5,359 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 13,850 shares during the quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $245,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. SouthState Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the 2nd quarter worth $31,000. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton increased its position in Williams Companies by 50.4% in the third quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 752 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 252 shares in the last quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the second quarter worth about $34,000. Quarry LP purchased a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the 2nd quarter valued at about $35,000. Finally, Fortitude Family Office LLC grew its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 120.8% during the 3rd quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 996 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 545 shares during the period. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams Companies

In related news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.29, for a total value of $90,580.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 304,200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,777,218. This represents a 0.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 7,951 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.30, for a total value of $447,641.30. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 25,858 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,455,805.40. This trade represents a 23.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have weighed in on WMB shares. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $42.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded shares of Williams Companies from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Williams Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $52.00 to $58.00 in a report on Friday, October 4th. Finally, Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $51.54.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

NYSE:WMB opened at $59.65 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a current ratio of 0.57. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $51.35 and its 200 day moving average is $45.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $72.71 billion, a PE ratio of 25.17, a PEG ratio of 6.04 and a beta of 1.03. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $32.65 and a fifty-two week high of $60.36.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.01. Williams Companies had a net margin of 27.36% and a return on equity of 15.89%. The firm had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.52 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.45 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.475 per share. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is currently 80.17%.

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.