Axa S.A. Sells 34,475 Shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Axa S.A. decreased its holdings in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 11.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 274,139 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 34,475 shares during the quarter. Axa S.A.’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $11,651,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WMB. Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 5.9% in the first quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 20,983,727 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $817,736,000 after acquiring an additional 1,175,628 shares during the last quarter. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. increased its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. now owns 12,670,175 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $538,482,000 after purchasing an additional 144,713 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 21.3% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 11,593,482 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $403,801,000 after purchasing an additional 2,039,703 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Williams Companies by 3.3% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,648,918 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $410,064,000 after buying an additional 311,530 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP grew its position in Williams Companies by 13.4% during the first quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP now owns 8,540,611 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $332,828,000 after buying an additional 1,010,658 shares in the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised Williams Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $38.00 to $46.00 in a report on Tuesday, June 4th. StockNews.com cut Williams Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $41.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, August 19th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $44.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $43.50.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

NYSE:WMB opened at $45.16 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $55.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.32 and a beta of 1.05. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $32.49 and a 1 year high of $46.48. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $44.29 and a 200-day moving average of $41.57. The company has a current ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.05. The firm 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 business’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.42 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.475 per share. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.21%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 79.83%.

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.