Ausbil Investment Management Ltd Decreases Stake in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB)

Ausbil Investment Management Ltd reduced its position in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 7.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 91,302 shares of the pipeline company's stock after selling 7,614 shares during the period. Williams Companies accounts for about 3.5% of Ausbil Investment Management Ltd's holdings, making the stock its 8th biggest position. Ausbil Investment Management Ltd's holdings in Williams Companies were worth $5,456,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in WMB. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 40.9% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 13,680 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $740,000 after purchasing an additional 3,969 shares in the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 108,425 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $5,868,000 after purchasing an additional 2,255 shares in the last quarter. Ieq Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 24.0% during the fourth quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 54,307 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $2,939,000 after purchasing an additional 10,511 shares in the last quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in Williams Companies by 6.7% in the fourth quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 30,467 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $1,649,000 after acquiring an additional 1,918 shares during the period. Finally, Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT raised its position in Williams Companies by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT now owns 10,331 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $559,000 after acquiring an additional 285 shares during the period. 86.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE WMB traded up $0.64 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $61.12. The company's stock had a trading volume of 9,283,691 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,829,008. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $59.17 and a 200 day moving average price of $57.49. Williams Companies, Inc. has a one year low of $40.41 and a one year high of $61.67. The company has a current ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $74.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.68, a P/E/G ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.65.

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

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

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 dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. Williams Companies's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 106.95%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have commented on WMB. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $63.00 price objective on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Scotiabank lifted their price objective 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, June 5th. Finally, CIBC lifted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $61.25.

Williams Companies Company 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.