Oxbow Advisors LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB)

Oxbow Advisors LLC lowered its position in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 69.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 52,953 shares of the pipeline company's stock after selling 122,587 shares during the quarter. Oxbow Advisors LLC's holdings in Williams Companies were worth $3,164,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in Williams Companies by 40.9% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 13,680 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $740,000 after purchasing an additional 3,969 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Williams Companies during the 4th quarter worth about $327,000. Independent Advisor Alliance increased its position in Williams Companies by 36.5% during the 4th quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 19,232 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $1,041,000 after purchasing an additional 5,138 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in Williams Companies by 12.2% during the 4th quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 40,891 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $2,213,000 after purchasing an additional 4,432 shares in the last quarter. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Williams Companies by 10.5% during the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 8,961 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $485,000 after purchasing an additional 848 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently commented on WMB shares. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on Williams Companies from $52.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 5th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Williams Companies from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. Wolfe Research raised Williams Companies from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research note on Friday, June 13th. TD Cowen assumed coverage on Williams Companies in a research note on Monday, July 7th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $67.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Williams Companies from $58.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $61.69.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

NYSE WMB opened at $58.25 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $71.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.15, a P/E/G ratio of 4.30 and a beta of 0.65. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1-year low of $40.41 and a 1-year high of $63.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 0.40 and a quick ratio of 0.36. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $59.37 and its 200-day simple moving average is $57.98.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $3.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.90 billion. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 15.95% and a net margin of 21.18%. The company's revenue was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.59 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 13th. Williams Companies's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 106.95%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.70, for a total transaction of $125,400.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 315,645 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $19,790,941.50. The trade was a 0.63% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company 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.

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