The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) Shares Sold by River Road Asset Management LLC

River Road Asset Management LLC lessened its position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 601,504 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 27,179 shares during the quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $27,459,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. CVA Family Office LLC increased its stake in Williams Companies by 18.7% during the third quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 1,578 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $72,000 after purchasing an additional 249 shares during the period. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton increased its stake in Williams Companies by 50.4% during the 3rd quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 752 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 252 shares during the period. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Williams Companies by 2.8% during the 2nd quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 9,298 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $395,000 after buying an additional 257 shares in the last quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. boosted its position in Williams Companies by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 31,206 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,326,000 after buying an additional 260 shares during the period. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. grew its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 3.5% in the third quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 8,061 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $368,000 after acquiring an additional 275 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Williams Companies

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,777,218. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.44% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Williams Companies Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE WMB opened at $52.40 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $48.04 and a 200 day moving average price of $43.96. The stock has a market cap of $63.86 billion, a PE ratio of 22.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.78 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a quick ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52-week low of $32.65 and a 52-week high of $52.85.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $2.34 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.46 billion. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 16.17% and a net margin of 27.11%. The company’s revenue was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.42 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on WMB shares. UBS Group boosted their target price on Williams Companies from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Williams Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $52.00 to $58.00 in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com cut Williams Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Williams Companies has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $49.62.

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 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.