Horan Capital Advisors LLC. Lowers Stock Position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Horan Capital Advisors LLC. reduced its stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 1.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 141,953 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 2,511 shares during the quarter. Williams Companies comprises approximately 2.2% of Horan Capital Advisors LLC.’s holdings, making the stock its 11th largest position. Horan Capital Advisors LLC.’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $6,480,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in WMB. Intech Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 97.7% in the first quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 24,333 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $948,000 after acquiring an additional 12,022 shares during the period. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board bought a new stake in Williams Companies during the first quarter worth approximately $218,000. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Williams Companies by 15.7% during the 1st quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 108,302 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $4,221,000 after purchasing an additional 14,672 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 74.9% during the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 79,126 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $3,084,000 after purchasing an additional 33,888 shares during the period. Finally, CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co grew its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 4.9% during the first quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 1,519,828 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $59,268,000 after buying an additional 71,359 shares during the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently commented on WMB shares. Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $42.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Mizuho upped their price objective on Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Williams Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $52.00 to $58.00 in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, CIBC upped their target price on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $51.54.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Shares of WMB opened at $57.86 on Tuesday. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $32.65 and a 1 year high of $58.10. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $50.20 and its 200 day simple moving average is $45.17. 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 company has a market capitalization of $70.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.41, a PEG ratio of 5.83 and a beta of 1.03.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.01. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 15.89% and a net margin of 27.36%. The firm had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.52 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.45 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.91 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.475 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.28%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 80.17%.

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 that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.29, for a total value of $90,580.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 304,200 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,777,218. This trade represents a 0.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 7,951 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.30, for a total value of $447,641.30. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 25,858 shares in the company, valued at $1,455,805.40. The trade was a 23.52 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.