Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC Reduces Holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC reduced its stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 31.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,661 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 3,529 shares during the quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $350,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 9.2% in the first quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 31,557 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,230,000 after buying an additional 2,666 shares during the last quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. increased its position in shares of Williams Companies by 13.4% in the 1st quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 116,052 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $4,523,000 after acquiring an additional 13,709 shares during the period. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC raised its stake in Williams Companies by 2.8% in the 1st quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC now owns 13,690 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $534,000 after acquiring an additional 371 shares during the last quarter. M&G Plc acquired a new stake in Williams Companies during the 1st quarter worth about $1,036,000. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Williams Companies by 97.7% during the 1st quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 24,333 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $948,000 after purchasing an additional 12,022 shares during the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.29, for a total value 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. The trade was a 0.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 7,951 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.30, for a total value of $447,641.30. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 25,858 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,455,805.40. The trade was a 23.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Shares of WMB stock opened at $55.58 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12-month low of $32.65 and a 12-month high of $57.33. The business’s 50 day moving average is $49.48 and its two-hundred day moving average is $44.74. The company has a market capitalization of $67.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.45, a P/E/G ratio of 5.56 and a beta of 1.03.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.52 billion. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 15.89% and a net margin of 27.36%. The business’s revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.45 EPS. Analysts expect that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.475 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.42%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 80.17%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on WMB shares. CIBC raised their price objective on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. StockNews.com lowered shares of Williams Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $42.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Bank of America began 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 investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Williams Companies has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $50.38.

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.