Bank of New York Mellon Corp Sells 174,373 Shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB)

Bank of New York Mellon Corp decreased its stake in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 1.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 8,923,131 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 174,373 shares during the quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned approximately 0.73% of Williams Companies worth $533,246,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 130,356,165 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $7,054,876,000 after purchasing an additional 1,008,213 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $1,687,797,000 after purchasing an additional 540,533 shares in the last quarter. Blackstone Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 36.5% in the 4th quarter. Blackstone Inc. now owns 18,954,088 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,025,795,000 after purchasing an additional 5,068,738 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 12.5% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the 4th quarter valued at about $575,103,000. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on WMB. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Williams Companies from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Friday, June 13th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $58.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 25th. Scotiabank boosted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $52.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, June 5th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $63.00 price objective on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Williams Companies currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $61.25.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.70, for a total transaction of $125,400.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 315,645 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,790,941.50. The trade was a 0.63% 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.

Williams Companies Stock Down 1.1%

NYSE:WMB opened at $58.47 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $71.29 billion, a PE ratio of 31.26, a P/E/G ratio of 4.33 and a beta of 0.65. Williams Companies, Inc. has a twelve month low of $40.41 and a twelve month high of $63.45. The company has a current ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.63. The company’s 50 day moving average is $59.51 and its two-hundred day moving average is $57.84.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released its earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $3.05 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.90 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 21.18% and a return on equity of 15.95%. Williams Companies’s revenue was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.59 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 13th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 106.95%.

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.