Janney Montgomery Scott LLC Sells 37,864 Shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lessened its stake in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 4.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 867,001 shares of the pipeline company's stock after selling 37,864 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC owned approximately 0.07% of Williams Companies worth $51,812,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in WMB. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the 4th quarter worth about $575,103,000. Blackstone Inc. raised its holdings in Williams Companies by 36.5% in the fourth quarter. Blackstone Inc. now owns 18,954,088 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $1,025,795,000 after buying an additional 5,068,738 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 2,303.2% in the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 3,517,336 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $190,358,000 after buying an additional 3,370,974 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 6,407.2% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,238,490 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $133,772,000 after buying an additional 2,204,090 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Castle Hook Partners LP grew its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 69.1% during the fourth quarter. Castle Hook Partners LP now owns 5,055,184 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $273,587,000 after buying an additional 2,065,906 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company's stock.

Williams Companies Trading Down 1.1%

Shares of Williams Companies stock opened at $59.13 on Tuesday. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1-year low of $40.41 and a 1-year high of $61.67. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $58.80 and its 200-day simple moving average is $57.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 0.50 and a quick ratio of 0.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $72.10 billion, a PE ratio of 32.31, a P/E/G ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 0.65.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $3.05 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.90 billion. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 15.85% and a net margin of 21.17%. Williams Companies's quarterly revenue was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.59 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.38%. Williams Companies's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 106.95%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on WMB. Wolfe Research raised Williams Companies from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research report on Friday. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $58.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. CIBC lifted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $52.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Thursday, June 5th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $61.25.

Williams Companies 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.

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