Whitaker Myers Wealth Managers LTD. Sells 547 Shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Whitaker Myers Wealth Managers LTD. trimmed its holdings in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 4.8% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 10,919 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 547 shares during the quarter. Whitaker Myers Wealth Managers LTD.’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $653,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 130,356,165 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $7,054,876,000 after acquiring an additional 1,008,213 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Williams Companies by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 31,263,235 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,687,797,000 after purchasing an additional 540,533 shares during the last quarter. Blackstone Inc. boosted its position in Williams Companies by 36.5% during the fourth quarter. Blackstone Inc. now owns 18,954,088 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,025,795,000 after purchasing an additional 5,068,738 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in Williams Companies by 12.5% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 15,236,940 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $824,623,000 after purchasing an additional 1,696,618 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in Williams Companies during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $575,103,000. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Larry C. Larsen sold 8,000 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.94, for a total transaction of $455,520.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 81,265 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,627,229.10. The trade was a 8.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Shares of WMB stock opened at $60.56 on Friday. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a one year low of $40.41 and a one year high of $61.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 0.50 and a quick ratio of 0.45. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $58.43 and a 200 day moving average price of $57.34. The stock has a market cap of $73.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 0.65.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $3.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.90 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 21.17% and a return on equity of 15.85%. The business’s revenue was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.59 EPS. Analysts predict that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.30%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 106.95%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. CIBC lifted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Barclays raised their price target on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Williams Companies from $58.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Williams Companies currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $61.25.

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.