Principal Financial Group Inc. Has $107.09 Million Stock Position in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Principal Financial Group Inc. lessened its holdings in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 0.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,690,371 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 11,912 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $107,085,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Fortem Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the 3rd quarter worth $257,000. Mutual Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 12.2% during the 3rd quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 5,180 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $305,000 after purchasing an additional 565 shares during the last quarter. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in Williams Companies by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC now owns 13,145 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $833,000 after purchasing an additional 326 shares in the last quarter. Lee Financial Co increased its position in Williams Companies by 102.7% during the 3rd quarter. Lee Financial Co now owns 17,586 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,114,000 after purchasing an additional 8,910 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Everhart Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Williams Companies by 18.3% in the 3rd quarter. Everhart Financial Group Inc. now owns 20,518 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,300,000 after purchasing an additional 3,178 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on WMB shares. Mizuho upgraded shares of Williams Companies to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 27th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on Williams Companies from $70.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 9th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Monday, December 29th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on Williams Companies from $72.00 to $70.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. Finally, TD Cowen upped their price objective on Williams Companies from $69.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 6th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $68.29.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

NYSE:WMB opened at $66.36 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.42. Williams Companies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $51.58 and a fifty-two week high of $68.27. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $61.29 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $60.14. The company has a market capitalization of $81.04 billion, a PE ratio of 34.21, a P/E/G ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 0.64.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 3rd. The pipeline company reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by ($0.02). Williams Companies had a return on equity of 16.74% and a net margin of 20.61%.The firm had revenue of $2.92 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.87 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.43 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 30th. Investors of record on Friday, March 13th will be issued a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. This is a positive change from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.2%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 108.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.90, for a total transaction of $123,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 297,545 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,418,035.50. This trade represents a 0.67% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Company Profile

Williams Companies, Inc (NYSE: WMB) is a U.S.-based energy infrastructure company focused on the midstream segment of the natural gas value chain. The company develops, owns and operates assets that gather, process, transport and store natural gas and natural gas liquids (NGLs). Its operations support the movement of gas from production areas to end users including utilities, power generators, industrial customers and export facilities.

Williams’s product and service offering includes interstate and intrastate pipeline transmission, gas-gathering systems, processing facilities that remove impurities and separate NGLs, storage services and fractionation and transportation of NGL products.