River Road Asset Management LLC Sells 27,179 Shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

River Road Asset Management LLC lessened its holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 4.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 601,504 shares of the pipeline company's stock after selling 27,179 shares during the quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC's holdings in Williams Companies were worth $27,459,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in WMB. Blackstone Inc. increased 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 worth $252,006,000 after buying an additional 3,373,800 shares during the period. Castle Hook Partners LP purchased a new position in Williams Companies in the 1st quarter worth approximately $57,220,000. Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 5.9% during the first quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 20,983,727 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $817,736,000 after purchasing an additional 1,175,628 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in shares of 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 period. Finally, Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP raised its holdings in Williams Companies by 13.4% during the 1st quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP now owns 8,540,611 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $332,828,000 after buying an additional 1,010,658 shares during the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams Companies

In other news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.29, for a total value of $90,580.00. Following 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.44% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Mizuho boosted their price target on Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Morgan Stanley raised Williams Companies from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and boosted their target price for the company from $52.00 to $58.00 in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Finally, Bank of America started coverage on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $55.00 price target on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Williams Companies currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $50.38.

Williams Companies Stock Up 1.7 %

Shares of WMB stock traded up $0.91 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $53.05. 5,504,940 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,244,506. 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 stock's fifty day simple moving average is $48.19 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $44.06. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12-month low of $32.65 and a 12-month high of $53.30. The stock has a market cap of $64.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.77, a PEG ratio of 5.78 and a beta of 1.03.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $2.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.46 billion. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 16.17% and a net margin of 27.11%. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.42 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.91 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a dividend of $0.475 per share. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.58%. Williams Companies's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 81.55%.

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.