The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) Shares Sold by Mediolanum International Funds Ltd

Mediolanum International Funds Ltd lessened its position in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 15.2% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 59,788 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 10,743 shares during the period. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $2,696,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brookstone Capital Management raised its holdings in Williams Companies by 52.5% in the first quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 9,698 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $378,000 after buying an additional 3,337 shares during the period. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Williams Companies by 15.0% during the 1st quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 61,480 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $2,396,000 after purchasing an additional 8,031 shares during the period. Vicus Capital acquired a new stake in Williams Companies in the 1st quarter valued at $321,000. Little House Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the first quarter worth about $1,036,000. Finally, Hexagon Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 60.5% in the first quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 10,414 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $406,000 after buying an additional 3,924 shares during the period. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were 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 owns 304,200 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,777,218. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on WMB shares. Citigroup increased their target price on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. UBS Group lifted 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. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Williams Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $52.00 to $58.00 in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $48.62.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE WMB opened at $52.50 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $47.17 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $43.30. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52-week low of $32.65 and a 52-week high of $52.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $63.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.06, a P/E/G ratio of 5.87 and a beta of 1.05.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.05. The business 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 business’s revenue was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.42 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Stockholders 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.62%. 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.