Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Sells 30,876 Shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans trimmed its position in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 9.1% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 309,077 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 30,876 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ holdings in Williams Companies were worth $19,580,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Lee Financial Co boosted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 102.7% in the 3rd quarter. Lee Financial Co now owns 17,586 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,114,000 after purchasing an additional 8,910 shares during the last quarter. Everhart Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Williams Companies by 18.3% in the third quarter. Everhart Financial Group Inc. now owns 20,518 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,300,000 after buying an additional 3,178 shares during the period. Keybank National Association OH boosted its stake in Williams Companies by 1.1% in the third quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 33,072 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $2,095,000 after acquiring an additional 356 shares during the last quarter. National Pension Service boosted its stake in Williams Companies by 1.1% in the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 3,873,861 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $245,409,000 after acquiring an additional 42,387 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Williams Companies by 11.9% during the 3rd quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,766 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $239,000 after acquiring an additional 399 shares during the period. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on WMB shares. Zacks Research downgraded Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 6th. Mizuho upgraded Williams Companies to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 27th. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Monday, January 12th. Tudor Pickering upgraded Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 1st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on Williams Companies from $71.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $68.64.

Williams Companies Stock Up 3.2%

NYSE:WMB opened at $68.45 on Wednesday. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $51.58 and a 1 year high of $68.70. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $61.47 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $60.21. The stock has a market cap of $83.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.29, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a current ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.36 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 return on equity of 16.74% and a net margin of 20.61%.The business had revenue of $2.92 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.87 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.43 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This is an increase from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.1%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is 103.09%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.53, for a total value of $242,120.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 302,645 shares in the company, valued at $18,319,101.85. This represents a 1.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders have sold a total of 8,000 shares of company stock valued at $498,700 over the last 90 days. 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.