Gilman Hill Asset Management LLC Lowers Position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Gilman Hill Asset Management LLC decreased its position in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 5.9% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 94,500 shares of the pipeline company's stock after selling 5,922 shares during the period. Gilman Hill Asset Management LLC's holdings in Williams Companies were worth $5,647,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the 4th quarter valued at $575,103,000. Blackstone Inc. grew its position in Williams Companies by 36.5% during the 4th quarter. Blackstone Inc. now owns 18,954,088 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $1,025,795,000 after purchasing an additional 5,068,738 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP increased its stake in 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 valued at $190,358,000 after purchasing an additional 3,370,974 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings 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 valued at $133,772,000 after buying an additional 2,204,090 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Castle Hook Partners LP boosted its stake 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 worth $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.

Insider Activity at Williams Companies

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Larry C. Larsen sold 8,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.94, for a total value of $455,520.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 81,265 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,627,229.10. The trade was a 8.96% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.44% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Barclays boosted their price target on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Morgan Stanley raised 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. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $52.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Thursday. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $61.25.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Shares of WMB remained flat at $60.56 during mid-day trading on Friday. 5,273,288 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,752,884. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.50. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $40.41 and a fifty-two week high of $61.67. The company has a market cap of $73.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 0.65. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $58.43 and its 200-day simple moving average is $57.34.

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 for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.05. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 15.85% and a net margin of 21.17%. The company had revenue of $3.05 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.90 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.59 earnings per share. Williams Companies's revenue was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.30%. Williams Companies's dividend payout ratio is currently 106.95%.

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.