M&G Plc Reduces Position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

M&G Plc decreased its holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 15.2% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 22,536 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 4,031 shares during the period. M&G Plc’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $969,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in WMB. Wedmont Private Capital boosted its stake in Williams Companies by 5.5% during the second quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 18,475 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $794,000 after buying an additional 956 shares during the last quarter. Brendel Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,189,000. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in Williams Companies by 9.9% during the second quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 24,203 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,029,000 after purchasing an additional 2,179 shares during the last quarter. Occidental Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Williams Companies by 5.3% during the second quarter. Occidental Asset Management LLC now owns 85,777 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $3,646,000 after purchasing an additional 4,316 shares during the period. Finally, Asset Management Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Williams Companies by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. Asset Management Advisors LLC now owns 178,491 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $7,586,000 after purchasing an additional 1,674 shares during the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently commented on WMB shares. Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th. Seaport Res Ptn cut shares of Williams Companies from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 13th. Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, June 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $42.50.

Williams Companies Stock Down 0.4 %

NYSE WMB traded down $0.19 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $43.12. 4,640,262 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,606,618. 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 firm has a market cap of $52.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.08, a PEG ratio of 6.82 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a 50 day moving average of $42.45 and a two-hundred day moving average of $39.34. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52-week low of $32.49 and a 52-week high of $45.10.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued its earnings results on Monday, August 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $2.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.46 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 27.11% and a return on equity of 16.17%. The firm’s revenue was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.42 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be issued a $0.475 dividend. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.41%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is currently 79.83%.

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.