Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. Cuts Stock Position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. cut its position in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 9.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,127,609 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 218,053 shares during the quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co.’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $90,423,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Rise Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Williams Companies in the first quarter worth $27,000. SouthState Corp purchased a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the second quarter worth about $31,000. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Williams Companies during the 2nd quarter valued at about $34,000. Fairman Group LLC bought a new position in Williams Companies during the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Finally, Alaska Permanent Fund Corp purchased a new position in Williams Companies in the 1st quarter worth approximately $46,000. 86.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Williams Companies Stock Up 0.9 %

WMB stock opened at $45.16 on Friday. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $32.49 and a fifty-two week high of $46.48. The company has a market capitalization of $55.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.32 and a beta of 1.05. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $44.31 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $41.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a current ratio of 0.45.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released 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. The company had revenue of $2.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.42 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th will be paid a $0.475 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.21%. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is 79.83%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com cut shares of Williams Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Seaport Res Ptn lowered shares of Williams Companies from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 10th. Truist Financial increased their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Williams Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $38.00 to $46.00 in a report on Tuesday, June 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Williams Companies currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $43.50.

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.