Asset Management Advisors LLC Trims Position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Asset Management Advisors LLC cut its holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 0.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 176,579 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 1,118 shares during the period. Williams Companies comprises 7.2% of Asset Management Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. Asset Management Advisors LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $10,552,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Beese Fulmer Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. Beese Fulmer Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,147 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $786,000 after buying an additional 247 shares during the last quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC increased its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 2.3% in the 1st quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC now owns 8,911 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $533,000 after buying an additional 202 shares during the last quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC increased its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 5.1% in the 1st quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC now owns 31,947 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,909,000 after buying an additional 1,542 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 6,407.2% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,238,490 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $133,772,000 after buying an additional 2,204,090 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Walnut Private Equity Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the 1st quarter worth about $28,256,000. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on WMB. CIBC lifted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Barclays upped their price target 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. Morgan Stanley upped their price target 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, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $63.00 price target on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $60.75.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Micheal G. Dunn sold 96,687 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.04, for a total value of $5,128,278.48. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 714,693 shares in the company, valued at $37,907,316.72. This represents a 11.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Larry C. Larsen sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.94, for a total transaction of $455,520.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 81,265 shares in the company, valued at $4,627,229.10. The trade was a 8.96% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 113,583 shares of company stock valued at $6,095,318. Insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Trading Up 0.2%

NYSE WMB opened at $60.39 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $58.34 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $57.22. The stock has a market cap of $73.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.00, a P/E/G ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 0.66. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12-month low of $40.41 and a 12-month high of $61.67. The company has a current ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $3.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.90 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 21.17% and a return on equity of 15.85%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.59 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.31%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 106.95%.

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.