The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) Shares Sold by Everpar Advisors LLC

Everpar Advisors LLC reduced its stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 17.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,973 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 3,151 shares during the period. Everpar Advisors LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $810,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Board of the Pension Protection Fund acquired a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the fourth quarter worth $720,000. Brendel Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Williams Companies by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Brendel Financial Advisors LLC now owns 51,927 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $2,370,000 after buying an additional 419 shares in the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Williams Companies in the 3rd quarter valued at about $545,000. Swiss National Bank grew its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 0.3% during the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 3,617,300 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $165,130,000 after acquiring an additional 9,800 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Valley National Advisers Inc. increased its position in shares of Williams Companies by 1,855.7% during the third quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 42,029 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,918,000 after acquiring an additional 39,880 shares during the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Williams Companies Stock Up 1.9 %

Shares of Williams Companies stock opened at $59.13 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $72.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.95, a PEG ratio of 5.36 and a beta of 1.06. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a twelve month low of $32.65 and a twelve month high of $60.36. The company has a current ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $56.00 and its 200-day simple moving average is $49.52.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.52 billion. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 15.89% and a net margin of 27.36%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.45 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th were given a $0.475 dividend. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.21%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 80.17%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently commented on WMB shares. Scotiabank reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $51.00 price target on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Friday, January 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $55.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. CIBC upped their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $53.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 7,951 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.30, for a total transaction of $447,641.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 25,858 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,455,805.40. The trade was a 23.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.44% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.