Equity Investment Corp Has $66.02 Million Stock Position in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Equity Investment Corp cut its holdings in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 1,042,128 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 24,609 shares during the period. Equity Investment Corp’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $66,019,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Private Wealth Management Group LLC grew its position in Williams Companies by 104.8% in the second quarter. Private Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 469 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 240 shares during the last quarter. Hartford Funds Management Co LLC bought a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the second quarter worth about $29,000. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Finally, Salomon & Ludwin LLC bought a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.39, for a total transaction of $132,780.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 293,545 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,488,452.55. This trade represents a 0.68% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 8,000 shares of company stock worth $498,700. Corporate insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on WMB shares. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $72.00 to $70.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. Zacks Research downgraded Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Williams Companies from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 13th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their price target 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 investment 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 MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $68.64.

Williams Companies Stock Up 3.2%

Shares of NYSE:WMB opened at $68.45 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $83.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.29, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.65. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12-month low of $51.58 and a 12-month high of $68.70. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $61.47 and a 200 day simple moving average of $60.21. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73.

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

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The business 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 boost from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.1%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 103.09%.

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.