US Bancorp DE Decreases Holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

US Bancorp DE decreased its holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 2.7% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 385,129 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 10,776 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $17,581,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 5.9% during the first 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 during the last quarter. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. grew its position in Williams Companies by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. now owns 12,670,175 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $538,482,000 after acquiring an additional 144,713 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Williams Companies by 3.3% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,648,918 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $410,064,000 after purchasing an additional 311,530 shares during the period. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP lifted its position in 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 last quarter. Finally, Bahl & Gaynor Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 8.8% during the second quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 7,664,152 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $325,726,000 after purchasing an additional 618,056 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Williams Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $52.00 to $58.00 in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. UBS Group upped their price target on Williams Companies from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $48.62.

Insider Activity at Williams Companies

In other news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.29, for a total value of $90,580.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 304,200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,777,218. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.44% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Shares of WMB stock opened at $51.56 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $47.90 and its 200-day moving average price is $43.81. The stock has a market cap of $62.84 billion, a PE ratio of 22.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.87 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a current ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12 month low of $32.65 and a 12 month high of $52.85.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $2.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.46 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.42 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.