Energy Income Partners LLC Has $129.56 Million Stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Energy Income Partners LLC trimmed its holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 12.9% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 3,324,658 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 493,224 shares during the period. Williams Companies comprises 2.7% of Energy Income Partners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 11th biggest position. Energy Income Partners LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $129,562,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. BOKF NA lifted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 12.8% in the first quarter. BOKF NA now owns 89,829 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $3,492,000 after buying an additional 10,212 shares during the last quarter. Steel Grove Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 44.5% during the first quarter. Steel Grove Capital Advisors LLC now owns 25,827 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,006,000 after purchasing an additional 7,951 shares during the period. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. increased its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 0.4% during the first quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 1,634,386 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $63,692,000 after purchasing an additional 7,314 shares during the period. LRI Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the first quarter worth approximately $81,000. Finally, 1832 Asset Management L.P. increased its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 0.3% during the first quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 3,784,038 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $147,464,000 after purchasing an additional 11,071 shares during the period. 86.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Shares of WMB traded up $0.70 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $42.52. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 5,567,552 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,498,141. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a one year low of $32.49 and a one year high of $45.10. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $41.98 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $38.67. The company has a quick ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $51.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.65 and a beta of 1.05.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $2.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.69 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.56 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 7th were paid a $0.475 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 7th. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.47%. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is 79.83%.

Insider Activity

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on WMB shares. Barclays increased their target price on Williams Companies from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 12th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Williams Companies from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th. UBS Group increased their target price on Williams Companies from $43.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. CIBC increased their target price on Williams Companies from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th. Finally, Truist Financial increased their target price on Williams Companies from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Williams Companies has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $41.77.

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.