Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. Sells 14,116 Shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB)

Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. cut its stake in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 7.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 163,618 shares of the pipeline company's stock after selling 14,116 shares during the quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc.'s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $9,778,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of WMB. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position in Williams Companies by 40.9% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 13,680 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $740,000 after acquiring an additional 3,969 shares in the last quarter. Sigma Planning Corp raised its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 9.7% in the fourth quarter. Sigma Planning Corp now owns 31,733 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $1,717,000 after purchasing an additional 2,811 shares during the last quarter. TCW Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. TCW Group Inc. now owns 17,052 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $923,000 after purchasing an additional 427 shares in the last quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. now owns 12,652 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $685,000 after purchasing an additional 331 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the fourth quarter valued at $2,552,000. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:WMB traded down $0.35 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $60.77. The company had a trading volume of 6,655,665 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,834,417. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12-month low of $40.41 and a 12-month high of $61.67. The company has a fifty day moving average of $59.22 and a two-hundred day moving average of $57.51. The company has a market cap of $74.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.50, a PEG ratio of 4.51 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 0.40 and a quick ratio of 0.36.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.05. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 15.95% and a net margin of 21.18%. The business had revenue of $3.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.90 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.59 earnings per share. Williams Companies's revenue for the quarter was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.29%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. Williams Companies's dividend payout ratio is 106.95%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Williams Companies from $58.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $52.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Thursday, June 5th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Williams Companies from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research report on Friday, June 13th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Williams Companies has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $61.25.

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.