Moran Wealth Management LLC Decreases Stock Position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Moran Wealth Management LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 19.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 113,429 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 26,815 shares during the period. Moran Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $3,701,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Williams Companies by 96,588.4% in 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. Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 4.4% in the first quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 22,064,140 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $658,835,000 after buying an additional 930,876 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 19,750,630 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $649,796,000 after buying an additional 136,216 shares during the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 85.8% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 16,352,215 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $546,327,000 after buying an additional 7,551,749 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 17.6% in the first quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 14,383,616 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $429,495,000 after buying an additional 2,156,040 shares during the last quarter. 85.76% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Williams Companies Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of WMB stock opened at $35.61 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $34.59 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $33.11. The stock has a market cap of $43.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.97, a PEG ratio of 4.89 and a beta of 1.14. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52 week low of $27.80 and a 52 week high of $36.32.

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

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 8th will be paid a $0.4475 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 7th. This represents a $1.79 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.03%. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is 80.27%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $35.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 18th. TD Securities lowered their price objective on Williams Companies from $39.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 4th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Williams Companies from $39.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Williams Companies in a research report on Thursday, October 5th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $35.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com assumed coverage on Williams Companies in a research report on Thursday, October 5th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Williams Companies currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $36.33.

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 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.