Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. Has $828,000 Holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. lessened its position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 14.2% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 18,139 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 3,000 shares during the quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc.’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $828,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 5.9% during the 1st quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 20,983,727 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $817,736,000 after buying an additional 1,175,628 shares during the last quarter. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. grew its position in shares of Williams Companies by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. now owns 12,670,175 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $538,482,000 after acquiring an additional 144,713 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in Williams Companies by 3.3% during 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 during the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Williams Companies by 13.4% in the first quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP now owns 8,540,611 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $332,828,000 after purchasing an additional 1,010,658 shares during the period. Finally, Bahl & Gaynor Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 8.8% during the 2nd quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 7,664,152 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $325,726,000 after buying an additional 618,056 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Williams Companies

In other news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.29, for a total value of $90,580.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 304,200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,777,218. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $55.00 price target on the stock. Seaport Res Ptn lowered Williams Companies from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Williams Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $52.00 to $58.00 in a research report on Friday, October 4th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Williams Companies from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Williams Companies has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $48.62.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Williams Companies stock opened at $51.84 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $47.46 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $43.55. The company has a quick ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52 week low of $32.65 and a 52 week high of $52.85. The stock has a market cap of $63.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.25, a P/E/G ratio of 5.88 and a beta of 1.05.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released its earnings results on Monday, August 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.05. Williams Companies had a net margin of 27.11% and a return on equity of 16.17%. The firm had revenue of $2.34 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.46 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.42 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current year.

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.