MAI Capital Management Cuts Position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

MAI Capital Management lowered its stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 21.7% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 36,548 shares of the pipeline company's stock after selling 10,134 shares during the period. MAI Capital Management's holdings in Williams Companies were worth $1,668,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. grew its stake in Williams Companies by 1.2% during the second quarter. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. now owns 12,670,175 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $538,482,000 after purchasing an additional 144,713 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Williams Companies by 3.3% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,648,918 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $410,064,000 after acquiring an additional 311,530 shares in the last quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. grew its position in Williams Companies by 8.8% in the 2nd quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 7,664,152 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $325,726,000 after purchasing an additional 618,056 shares in the last quarter. Blackstone Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 109.1% in 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. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in Williams Companies by 20.1% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 6,117,298 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $259,985,000 after buying an additional 1,024,158 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on WMB. StockNews.com downgraded Williams Companies from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $42.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. CIBC upped their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Williams Companies currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $51.54.

Williams Companies Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE WMB traded up $0.78 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $59.48. 926,545 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,243,984. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $32.65 and a 1 year high of $59.49. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $50.76 and a 200 day moving average of $45.40. The stock has a market cap of $72.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.77, a P/E/G ratio of 6.04 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a quick ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 0.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.52 billion. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 15.89% and a net margin of 27.36%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.45 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.475 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.19%. Williams Companies's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 80.17%.

Insider Activity at Williams Companies

In other news, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 7,951 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.30, for a total transaction of $447,641.30. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 25,858 shares in the company, valued at $1,455,805.40. This trade represents a 23.52 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.29, for a total transaction of $90,580.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 304,200 shares of the company's stock, valued at $13,777,218. This represents a 0.65 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.