The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) Shares Sold by Brookstone Capital Management

Brookstone Capital Management lowered its position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 9.7% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 8,755 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 943 shares during the quarter. Brookstone Capital Management’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $373,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Williams Companies in the fourth quarter valued at about $306,417,000. Blackstone Inc. increased its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 109.1% in the first quarter. Blackstone Inc. now owns 6,466,660 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $252,006,000 after buying an additional 3,373,800 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in Williams Companies by 21.3% in the fourth 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. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its stake in Williams Companies by 69.2% during the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 4,105,754 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $143,003,000 after acquiring an additional 1,679,452 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Financial Bankshares Inc acquired a new position in Williams Companies during the 4th quarter worth $56,223,000. 86.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 13th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Williams Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $38.00 to $46.00 in a report on Tuesday, June 4th. CIBC raised their price objective on Williams Companies from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th. Seaport Res Ptn lowered shares of Williams Companies from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Williams Companies has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $42.58.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Shares of WMB opened at $45.02 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $54.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.09 and a beta of 1.05. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $42.71 and its 200-day moving average is $39.65. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a one year low of $32.49 and a one year high of $45.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a current ratio of 0.45.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $2.34 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.46 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.42 EPS. Williams Companies’s revenue was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.92 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be paid a $0.475 dividend. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 79.83%.

Williams Companies Company 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.