SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC Decreases Stock Position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC trimmed its position in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 65.6% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 9,822 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 18,721 shares during the period. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $383,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WMB. Morgan Stanley raised its position in shares of Williams Companies by 3.9% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 19,086,234 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $643,015,000 after buying an additional 712,048 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in Williams Companies by 21.3% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 11,593,482 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $403,801,000 after acquiring an additional 2,039,703 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Williams Companies in the 4th quarter valued at about $306,417,000. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. lifted its stake in Williams Companies by 7.2% in the 4th quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 7,018,863 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $244,467,000 after purchasing an additional 473,712 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,879,547 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $239,615,000 after purchasing an additional 166,090 shares during the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WMB has been the subject of several recent research reports. UBS Group increased their price target on Williams Companies from $43.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. US Capital Advisors downgraded Williams Companies from an “overweight” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Argus raised shares of Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 20th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Williams Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $38.00 to $46.00 in a research report on Tuesday, June 4th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $41.42.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

NYSE:WMB opened at $42.80 on Thursday. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $32.20 and a fifty-two week high of $43.22. 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 has a 50 day moving average price of $40.75 and a 200 day moving average price of $37.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $52.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.98, a PEG ratio of 6.63 and a beta of 1.05.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.10. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 16.27% and a net margin of 27.29%. The business had revenue of $2.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.69 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.56 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 10.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.85 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 7th were given a $0.475 dividend. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 7th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 79.83%.

Insider Transactions at Williams Companies

In other news, SVP Debbie L. Pickle sold 38,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.61, for a total value of $1,513,102.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 60,410 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,392,840.10. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

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.