Trust Co. of Oklahoma Trims Stock Position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Trust Co. of Oklahoma lessened its stake in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 1.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 31,506 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 563 shares during the quarter. Trust Co. of Oklahoma’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $1,228,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 19,086,234 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $643,015,000 after buying an additional 712,048 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 21.3% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 11,593,482 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $403,801,000 after buying an additional 2,039,703 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the 4th quarter worth approximately $306,417,000. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. raised its position in Williams Companies by 7.2% in the 4th quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 7,018,863 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $244,467,000 after purchasing an additional 473,712 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Williams Companies by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,879,547 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $239,615,000 after purchasing an additional 166,090 shares during the last quarter. 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 research reports. Argus upgraded shares of Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 20th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $37.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 10th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $43.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $41.42.

Insider Activity at Williams Companies

In related news, SVP Debbie L. Pickle sold 38,200 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.61, for a total value of $1,513,102.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 60,410 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,392,840.10. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.44% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:WMB traded up $0.50 on Wednesday, reaching $42.80. 3,176,458 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,650,660. The company has a current ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1-year low of $32.20 and a 1-year high of $43.22. The firm has a market cap of $52.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.67 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a 50-day moving average of $40.75 and a 200-day moving average of $37.70.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.10. Williams Companies had a net margin of 27.29% and a return on equity of 16.27%. The business had revenue of $2.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.69 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.56 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 7th were paid a dividend of $0.475 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 7th. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.44%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 79.83%.

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.