Clearbridge Investments LLC Sells 1,654,061 Shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Clearbridge Investments LLC trimmed its holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 7.9% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 19,329,666 shares of the pipeline company's stock after selling 1,654,061 shares during the quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC owned about 1.59% of Williams Companies worth $821,511,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. lifted its position in Williams Companies by 1.2% in 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. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in Williams Companies by 21.3% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 11,593,482 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $403,801,000 after buying an additional 2,039,703 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Williams Companies by 3.3% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,648,918 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $410,064,000 after buying an additional 311,530 shares in the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP grew its holdings in Williams Companies by 13.4% during the first quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP now owns 8,540,611 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $332,828,000 after acquiring an additional 1,010,658 shares during the period. Finally, Bahl & Gaynor Inc. raised its position in Williams Companies by 8.8% in the second quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 7,664,152 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $325,726,000 after acquiring an additional 618,056 shares in the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE WMB traded up $0.71 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $46.36. The stock had a trading volume of 6,519,964 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,307,265. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a twelve month low of $32.49 and a twelve month high of $46.48. 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 business's fifty day moving average is $44.38 and its two-hundred day moving average is $41.83. The company has a market cap of $56.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.48, a PEG ratio of 6.20 and a beta of 1.05.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.05. The company 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 company's quarterly revenue was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.42 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.93 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th were issued a dividend of $0.475 per share. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 13th. Williams Companies's payout ratio is presently 79.83%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on WMB. Truist Financial lifted their target price on Williams Companies from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, June 10th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Williams Companies from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and upped their price target for the company from $38.00 to $46.00 in a research report on Tuesday, June 4th. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of Williams Companies from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $43.50.

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.