Bessemer Group Inc. Sells 108,697 Shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB)

Bessemer Group Inc. reduced its holdings in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 52.2% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 99,441 shares of the pipeline company's stock after selling 108,697 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc.'s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $5,943,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Aurora Private Wealth Inc. raised its holdings in Williams Companies by 5,827.0% in the first quarter. Aurora Private Wealth Inc. now owns 248,518 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $14,851,000 after purchasing an additional 244,325 shares during the period. Spire Wealth Management raised its holdings in Williams Companies by 44.6% in the first quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 6,357 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $380,000 after purchasing an additional 1,961 shares during the period. Golden State Equity Partners raised its holdings in Williams Companies by 5.8% in the first quarter. Golden State Equity Partners now owns 12,735 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $761,000 after purchasing an additional 697 shares during the period. Vectors Research Management LLC raised its holdings in Williams Companies by 2.0% in the first quarter. Vectors Research Management LLC now owns 67,191 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $4,015,000 after purchasing an additional 1,292 shares during the period. Finally, Legacy Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Williams Companies by 2.1% in the first quarter. Legacy Advisors LLC now owns 42,011 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $2,511,000 after purchasing an additional 861 shares during the period. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Williams Companies from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a report on Friday, June 13th. Barclays increased 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 increased 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. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $58.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. Finally, CIBC increased 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 assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Williams Companies presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $61.25.

Williams Companies Stock Down 0.3%

Williams Companies stock traded down $0.18 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $62.69. The company's stock had a trading volume of 27,809,538 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,939,055. The company has a market capitalization of $76.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.63 and a beta of 0.65. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12 month low of $40.41 and a 12 month high of $63.18. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $59.39 and its 200 day simple moving average is $57.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.40.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.90 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.59 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. Williams Companies's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 106.95%.

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.