The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) Short Interest Down 18.2% in November

The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) was the target of a significant decrease in short interest during the month of November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 14,450,000 shares, a decrease of 18.2% from the October 31st total of 17,670,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 5,870,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.5 days.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams Companies

In related news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.29, for a total transaction of $90,580.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 304,200 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,777,218. The trade was a 0.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 7,951 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.30, for a total transaction of $447,641.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 25,858 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,455,805.40. The trade was a 23.52 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Williams Companies

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp grew its position in shares of Williams Companies by 0.7% during the third quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp now owns 82,301 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $3,756,000 after buying an additional 552 shares in the last quarter. Synovus Financial Corp lifted its stake in Williams Companies by 48.8% in the third quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 19,533 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $892,000 after acquiring an additional 6,409 shares during the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC grew its holdings in Williams Companies by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 41,514 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,895,000 after acquiring an additional 207 shares in the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the 3rd quarter valued at $1,346,000. Finally, World Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Williams Companies in the third quarter valued at $545,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Barclays upped their target price on Williams Companies from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Williams Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $42.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on Williams Companies from $55.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $51.79.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

NYSE WMB opened at $58.53 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $52.65 and a two-hundred day moving average of $46.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 0.57 and a quick ratio of 0.51. Williams Companies has a 1-year low of $32.65 and a 1-year high of $60.36. The company has a market cap of $71.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.69, a P/E/G ratio of 6.00 and a beta of 1.05.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.52 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 27.36% and a return on equity of 15.89%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.45 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Williams Companies will post 1.92 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.475 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.25%. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is 80.17%.

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 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.