Second Line Capital LLC Sells 797 Shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Second Line Capital LLC lowered its stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 15.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,485 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 797 shares during the quarter. Second Line Capital LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $243,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in WMB. Norges Bank bought a new position in Williams Companies in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $575,103,000. Blackstone Inc. raised its holdings in Williams Companies by 36.5% in the 4th quarter. Blackstone Inc. now owns 18,954,088 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,025,795,000 after buying an additional 5,068,738 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP raised its holdings in Williams Companies by 2,303.2% in the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 3,517,336 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $190,358,000 after buying an additional 3,370,974 shares during the last quarter. Castle Hook Partners LP raised its holdings in Williams Companies by 69.1% in the 4th quarter. Castle Hook Partners LP now owns 5,055,184 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $273,587,000 after buying an additional 2,065,906 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi raised its holdings in Williams Companies by 28.8% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 8,781,963 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $495,215,000 after buying an additional 1,964,421 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $58.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $63.00 price target on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Friday. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Williams Companies currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $60.50.

Insider Transactions at Williams Companies

In other Williams Companies news, COO Micheal G. Dunn sold 96,687 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.04, for a total transaction of $5,128,278.48. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 714,693 shares in the company, valued at approximately $37,907,316.72. The trade was a 11.92% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Chad A. Teply sold 26,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.46, for a total transaction of $1,467,960.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 133,048 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,511,890.08. The trade was a 16.35% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 139,583 shares of company stock valued at $7,563,278 over the last ninety days. 0.44% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Williams Companies Stock Down 0.0%

Shares of NYSE WMB opened at $58.77 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67. The firm has a market cap of $71.66 billion, a PE ratio of 32.11, a P/E/G ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 0.66. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $58.24 and its 200 day simple moving average is $56.87. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12-month low of $39.88 and a 12-month high of $61.67.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.05. Williams Companies had a net margin of 21.17% and a return on equity of 15.85%. The company had revenue of $3.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.90 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.59 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.40%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is 106.95%.

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.