The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) is Phillips Wealth Planners LLC’s 7th Largest Position

Phillips Wealth Planners LLC decreased its position in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 11.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 27,948 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 3,739 shares during the period. Williams Companies accounts for 1.6% of Phillips Wealth Planners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 7th biggest position. Phillips Wealth Planners LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $1,552,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of WMB. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 19.0% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 35,734,666 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,631,288,000 after buying an additional 5,697,605 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 1.7% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 30,722,702 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,398,004,000 after buying an additional 520,663 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 0.9% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,239,210 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $330,470,000 after buying an additional 67,016 shares during the last quarter. Swiss National Bank raised its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 0.3% in the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 3,617,300 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $165,130,000 after buying an additional 9,800 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC raised its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 3.4% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 3,271,141 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $149,326,000 after buying an additional 108,675 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Stock Down 2.3 %

WMB stock opened at $59.22 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $72.19 billion, a PE ratio of 24.99, a P/E/G ratio of 5.44 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a current ratio of 0.57. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $56.26 and its 200 day moving average is $50.05. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a one year low of $32.65 and a one year high of $61.46.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.45 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.92 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th were issued a dividend of $0.475 per share. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is 80.17%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WMB has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $55.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. CIBC increased their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Williams Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $52.00 to $58.00 in a research note on Friday, October 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Williams Companies currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $53.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams Companies

In other news, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 7,951 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.30, for a total value of $447,641.30. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 25,858 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,455,805.40. This trade represents a 23.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

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.