Larry C. Larsen Sells 4,500 Shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) Stock

Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) COO Larry C. Larsen sold 4,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.47, for a total transaction of $263,115.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 77,612 shares in the company, valued at $4,537,973.64. This represents a 5.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Shares of WMB stock opened at $57.84 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.54. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52 week low of $42.82 and a 52 week high of $63.45. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $59.14 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $58.24. The company has a market capitalization of $70.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.66.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.46 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $2.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.90 billion. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 16.23% and a net margin of 21.63%. The company’s revenue was up 19.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.43 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 12th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 12th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 100.50%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in Williams Companies by 40.9% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 13,680 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $740,000 after acquiring an additional 3,969 shares in the last quarter. Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the fourth quarter worth $1,235,000. Savvy Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Williams Companies during the fourth quarter worth $213,000. CreativeOne Wealth LLC grew its position in Williams Companies by 54.0% in the fourth quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 38,363 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $2,076,000 after purchasing an additional 13,448 shares in the last quarter. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new stake in Williams Companies in the 4th quarter valued at $305,000. 86.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WMB has been the subject of several recent research reports. TD Cowen started coverage on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Monday, July 7th. They set a “buy” rating and a $67.00 target price for the company. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $63.00 price objective on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Scotiabank increased their target price on Williams Companies from $59.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Wall Street Zen cut Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, August 9th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded Williams Companies from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Friday, June 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $62.00.

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.