Edge Capital Group LLC Trims Stock Holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Edge Capital Group LLC decreased its holdings in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 5.6% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 10,964 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 646 shares during the quarter. Edge Capital Group LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $466,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Rise Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the 1st quarter valued at $27,000. SouthState Corp purchased a new position in Williams Companies during the 2nd quarter valued at about $31,000. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the second quarter valued at about $34,000. Fairman Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, Alaska Permanent Fund Corp bought a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the first quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Argus raised shares of Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 20th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Williams Companies from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Seaport Res Ptn lowered Williams Companies from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Williams Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $38.00 to $46.00 in a research report on Tuesday, June 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $43.50.

Williams Companies Price Performance

WMB opened at $45.38 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 0.45 and a quick ratio of 0.39. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $44.06 and its 200 day simple moving average is $41.38. The firm has a market cap of $55.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.07, 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.

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

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be issued 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 4.19%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.