Park Place Capital Corp Lowers Stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Park Place Capital Corp decreased its stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 14.1% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 21,027 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 3,443 shares during the quarter. Park Place Capital Corp’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $819,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of WMB. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the fourth quarter worth about $306,417,000. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 35.1% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 9,553,779 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $321,867,000 after buying an additional 2,482,331 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 69.2% in the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 4,105,754 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $143,003,000 after buying an additional 1,679,452 shares during the period. First Financial Bankshares Inc purchased a new position in Williams Companies in the fourth quarter valued at about $56,223,000. Finally, Morningstar Investment Services LLC boosted its holdings in Williams Companies by 3,821.2% in the fourth quarter. Morningstar Investment Services LLC now owns 1,579,718 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $55,180,000 after purchasing an additional 1,539,431 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Williams Companies

In other news, SVP Debbie L. Pickle sold 38,200 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.61, for a total transaction of $1,513,102.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 60,410 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,392,840.10. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WMB has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised Williams Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $38.00 to $46.00 in a report on Tuesday, June 4th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Williams Companies from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 8th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Williams Companies from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, June 13th. US Capital Advisors downgraded Williams Companies from an “overweight” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 29th. Finally, Wolfe Research reissued an “underperform” rating and issued a $34.00 price target on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Thursday, April 18th. 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $41.42.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Shares of Williams Companies stock traded down $0.11 on Monday, reaching $42.39. 3,098,822 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,696,568. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.52. The company’s 50-day moving average is $40.60 and its two-hundred day moving average is $37.59. The firm has a market cap of $51.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.81, a P/E/G ratio of 6.67 and a beta of 1.05. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1-year low of $32.20 and a 1-year high of $43.22.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced 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. The business had revenue of $2.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.69 billion. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 16.27% and a net margin of 27.29%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 10.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.56 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 7th were given a dividend of $0.475 per share. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.48%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 7th. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is 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.