Cetera Investment Advisers Trims Stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Cetera Investment Advisers lessened its holdings in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 7.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 591,700 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 46,420 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers’ holdings in Williams Companies were worth $25,147,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of WMB. Blackstone Inc. raised its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 109.1% during the first quarter. Blackstone Inc. now owns 6,466,660 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $252,006,000 after acquiring an additional 3,373,800 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in Williams Companies by 21.3% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 11,593,482 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $403,801,000 after purchasing an additional 2,039,703 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC raised its position in Williams Companies by 40.1% during the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 5,753,223 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $224,203,000 after purchasing an additional 1,647,469 shares in the last quarter. First Financial Bankshares Inc bought a new stake in Williams Companies during the 4th quarter valued at $56,223,000. Finally, Morningstar Investment Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 3,821.2% in the 4th quarter. Morningstar Investment Services LLC now owns 1,579,718 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $55,180,000 after buying an additional 1,539,431 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams Companies

In other news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.29, for a total value of $90,580.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 304,200 shares in the company, valued at $13,777,218. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Trading Up 2.8 %

Shares of NYSE:WMB opened at $47.64 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $44.48 and its 200 day moving average is $41.87. 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 Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $32.49 and a 1 year high of $47.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $58.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.02, a P/E/G ratio of 6.20 and a beta of 1.05.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $2.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.46 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.42 EPS. Williams Companies’s revenue was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th were given a dividend of $0.475 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.99%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 79.83%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently weighed in on WMB shares. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded Williams Companies from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Williams Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on Williams Companies from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $43.83.

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.