Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky lessened its stake in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 67.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 93,999 shares of the pipeline company's stock after selling 193,041 shares during the quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky's holdings in Williams Companies were worth $5,617,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WMB. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Williams Companies during the 4th quarter worth about $575,103,000. Blackstone Inc. grew its holdings in Williams Companies by 36.5% in the 4th quarter. Blackstone Inc. now owns 18,954,088 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $1,025,795,000 after buying an additional 5,068,738 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP grew its holdings in Williams Companies by 2,303.2% in the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 3,517,336 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $190,358,000 after buying an additional 3,370,974 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in Williams Companies by 6,407.2% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,238,490 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $133,772,000 after buying an additional 2,204,090 shares during the period. Finally, Castle Hook Partners LP grew its holdings in Williams Companies by 69.1% in the 4th 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 period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company's stock.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
WMB has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Williams Companies from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Williams Companies from $58.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 25th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $63.00 price target on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. TD Cowen assumed coverage on Williams Companies in a report on Monday, July 7th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $67.00 price target for the company. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded Williams Companies from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a report on Friday, June 13th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Williams Companies has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $61.77.
Check Out Our Latest Stock Report on WMB
Williams Companies Stock Performance
Shares of WMB opened at $57.66 on Tuesday. The business's 50 day moving average is $59.39 and its two-hundred day moving average is $58.16. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52-week low of $40.41 and a 52-week high of $63.45. The firm has a market cap of $70.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.83, a PEG ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.63.
Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.05. The company 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%. Williams Companies's quarterly revenue was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.59 EPS. Analysts forecast that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Williams Companies Dividend Announcement
The company 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 dividend yield of 3.47%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 13th. Williams Companies's dividend payout ratio is currently 106.95%.
Insider Activity
In related news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 315,645 shares in the company, valued at $19,790,941.50. This represents a 0.63% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.44% of the company's stock.
Williams Companies Profile
(
Free Report)
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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