The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) Stock Holdings Cut by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. reduced its position in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 1.9% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,540,184 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 30,356 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.13% of Williams Companies worth $65,458,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Western Pacific Wealth Management LP bought a new position in Williams Companies during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Rise Advisors LLC bought a new position in Williams Companies during the 1st quarter valued at $27,000. Fairman Group LLC bought a new position in Williams Companies during the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp bought a new position in Williams Companies during the 1st quarter valued at $46,000. Finally, EntryPoint Capital LLC bought a new position in Williams Companies during the 1st quarter valued at $50,000. 86.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Williams Companies Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of WMB traded up $0.28 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $45.77. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 7,165,846 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,437,417. The business has a fifty day moving average of $43.25 and a 200 day moving average of $40.17. The company has a market cap of $55.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.25 and a beta of 1.05. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $32.49 and a 1 year high of $45.81. The company has a quick ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.05. Williams Companies had a net margin of 27.11% and a return on equity of 16.17%. The business had revenue of $2.34 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.46 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.42 earnings per share. Williams Companies’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be paid a $0.475 dividend. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 79.83%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on WMB shares. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Williams Companies from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. Truist Financial increased their price objective on Williams Companies from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Williams Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $38.00 to $46.00 in a research report on Tuesday, June 4th. Scotiabank increased their price objective on Williams Companies from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, CIBC increased their price objective on Williams Companies from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $42.83.

Williams Companies 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 natural gas pipelines; Transco, Northwest pipeline, MountainWest, and related natural gas storage facilities; and natural gas gathering and processing, and crude oil production handling and transportation assets in the Gulf Coast region.