Pacifica Partners Inc. Trims Stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Pacifica Partners Inc. trimmed its position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 2.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,670 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 306 shares during the quarter. Pacifica Partners Inc.’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $652,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in WMB. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale grew its holdings in Williams Companies by 20.3% during the 2nd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 264,710 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $11,164,000 after acquiring an additional 44,758 shares in the last quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 2.8% during the second quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 9,298 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $395,000 after purchasing an additional 257 shares in the last quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. increased its holdings in Williams Companies by 207.9% during the second quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 22,264 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $946,000 after buying an additional 15,033 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in Williams Companies by 3.3% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,648,918 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $410,064,000 after buying an additional 311,530 shares in the last quarter. Finally, One Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Williams Companies during the second quarter worth $596,000. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Stock Up 3.5 %

Shares of WMB stock opened at $57.97 on Wednesday. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $32.65 and a fifty-two week high of $60.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $70.67 billion, a PE ratio of 24.46, a P/E/G ratio of 5.60 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a current ratio of 0.57. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $55.95 and its 200-day simple moving average is $49.46.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.01. Williams Companies had a net margin of 27.36% and a return on equity of 15.89%. The company had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.52 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.45 EPS. Williams Companies’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th were given a dividend of $0.475 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.28%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 80.17%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams Companies

In other news, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 7,951 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.30, for a total value of $447,641.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 25,858 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,455,805.40. The trade was a 23.52 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.44% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Barclays boosted their price target on Williams Companies from $46.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Williams Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $52.00 to $58.00 in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Williams Companies currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $53.00.

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.