D.B. Root & Company LLC Has $1.54 Million Stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

D.B. Root & Company LLC trimmed its stake in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 1.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 39,585 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 525 shares during the period. D.B. Root & Company LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $1,543,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Founders Financial Securities LLC lifted its holdings in Williams Companies by 5.4% in the first quarter. Founders Financial Securities LLC now owns 54,072 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $2,107,000 after buying an additional 2,769 shares during the period. Vicus Capital acquired a new position in Williams Companies in the first quarter valued at approximately $321,000. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Williams Companies by 15.0% in the first quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 61,480 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $2,396,000 after buying an additional 8,031 shares during the period. Occidental Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Williams Companies by 23.1% in the first quarter. Occidental Asset Management LLC now owns 81,461 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $3,175,000 after buying an additional 15,302 shares during the period. Finally, Independence Bank of Kentucky lifted its holdings in Williams Companies by 50.6% in the first quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 17,452 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $680,000 after buying an additional 5,860 shares during the period. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on WMB. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $37.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Williams Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday. Argus upgraded shares of Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 20th. CIBC boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $43.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $41.42.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WMB traded up $0.26 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $42.50. 8,506,931 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,084,668. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62, a current ratio of 0.52 and a quick ratio of 0.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $51.80 billion, a PE ratio of 17.86, a P/E/G ratio of 6.67 and a beta of 1.05. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a one year low of $31.98 and a one year high of $43.22. The company’s 50 day moving average is $40.60 and its 200 day moving average is $37.57.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $2.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.69 billion. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 16.27% and a net margin of 27.29%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.56 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 7th were given a $0.475 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 7th. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.47%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 79.83%.

Insider Transactions at Williams Companies

In other news, SVP Debbie L. Pickle sold 38,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.61, for a total transaction of $1,513,102.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 60,410 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,392,840.10. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

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.