Beech Hill Advisors Inc. Trims Stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Beech Hill Advisors Inc. reduced its stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 3.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 35,600 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 1,350 shares during the quarter. Beech Hill Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $1,625,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of WMB. Blackstone Inc. raised its holdings in Williams Companies by 109.1% during the first quarter. Blackstone Inc. now owns 6,466,660 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $252,006,000 after acquiring an additional 3,373,800 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its holdings in Williams Companies by 40.1% in the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 5,753,223 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $224,203,000 after purchasing an additional 1,647,469 shares in the last quarter. Castle Hook Partners LP bought a new position in Williams Companies in the 1st quarter worth approximately $57,220,000. Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its holdings in Williams Companies by 5.9% during the 1st quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 20,983,727 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $817,736,000 after buying an additional 1,175,628 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in shares of Williams Companies by 20.1% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 6,117,298 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $259,985,000 after buying an additional 1,024,158 shares during the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.29, for a total value of $90,580.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 304,200 shares in the company, valued at $13,777,218. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WMB has been the subject of several research analyst reports. StockNews.com cut shares of Williams Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Scotiabank increased their price target on Williams Companies from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $46.83.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Williams Companies stock opened at $51.36 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $62.60 billion, a PE ratio of 22.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.10 and a beta of 1.05. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12-month low of $32.65 and a 12-month high of $51.63. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $45.95 and a 200-day moving average price of $42.69. The company has a current ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.05. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 16.17% and a net margin of 27.11%. The firm had revenue of $2.34 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.46 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.42 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.9 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th were paid a dividend of $0.475 per share. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.70%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 81.55%.

Williams Companies 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.