Americana Partners LLC Trims Position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Americana Partners LLC reduced its holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 100,263 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 3,735 shares during the quarter. Americana Partners LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $4,577,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norden Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 25.4% during the 1st quarter. Norden Group LLC now owns 21,794 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $849,000 after buying an additional 4,417 shares during the last quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the 1st quarter worth about $352,000. Private Advisor Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 3.0% during the 1st quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 85,854 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $3,346,000 after purchasing an additional 2,508 shares during the period. Diversify Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in Williams Companies during the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,344,000. Finally, Mission Wealth Management LP purchased a new position in Williams Companies in the first quarter valued at approximately $208,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:WMB traded down $0.18 during trading on Friday, reaching $52.19. 1,634,721 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,226,119. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 0.45 and a quick ratio of 0.39. The company has a 50 day moving average of $47.78 and a 200-day moving average of $43.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $63.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.88 and a beta of 1.05. 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 released its earnings results 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 return on equity of 16.17% and a net margin of 27.11%. The firm had revenue of $2.34 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.46 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.42 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter 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 year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.29, for a total value of $90,580.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 304,200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,777,218. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.44% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WMB has been the subject of several recent research reports. CIBC increased their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Morgan Stanley raised Williams Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $52.00 to $58.00 in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Williams Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $48.62.

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.