Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC Sells 18,345 Shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC decreased its holdings in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 4.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 352,930 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 18,345 shares during the period. Williams Companies makes up about 0.7% of Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 29th largest holding. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $11,516,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Williams Companies by 96,588.4% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 63,423,739 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $2,086,641,000 after purchasing an additional 63,358,143 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Williams Companies during the fourth quarter worth about $292,176,000. Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its stake in Williams Companies by 332.8% during the first quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 10,946,832 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $326,872,000 after purchasing an additional 8,417,313 shares during the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its stake in Williams Companies by 85.8% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 16,352,215 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $546,327,000 after purchasing an additional 7,551,749 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in Williams Companies by 200.1% during the second quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,286,535 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $164,993,000 after purchasing an additional 3,525,097 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.76% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on WMB. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Williams Companies from $39.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Williams Companies in a report on Thursday, October 5th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $35.00 price objective on the stock. StockNews.com initiated coverage on Williams Companies in a report on Thursday, October 5th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Mizuho lifted their price objective on Williams Companies from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 22nd. Finally, TD Securities decreased their price objective on Williams Companies from $39.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 4th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Williams Companies currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $36.33.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Williams Companies stock opened at $34.98 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $34.52 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $32.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.77. The stock has a market cap of $42.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.58, a PEG ratio of 4.98 and a beta of 1.14. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $27.80 and a fifty-two week high of $36.32.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 1st. The pipeline company reported $0.45 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by $0.05. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 16.90% and a net margin of 24.52%. The firm had revenue of $2.56 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.63 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.48 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 26th. Investors of record on Friday, December 8th will be given a $0.4475 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 7th. This represents a $1.79 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.12%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 80.27%.

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 Transco and Northwest natural gas pipelines; and natural gas gathering and processing, and crude oil production handling and transportation assets in the Gulf Coast region, as well as various petrochemical and feedstock pipelines.