The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) Stake Lessened by Louisiana State Employees Retirement System

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System trimmed its stake in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 0.6% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 68,600 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 400 shares during the quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $3,132,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its position 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 worth $817,736,000 after purchasing an additional 1,175,628 shares during the last quarter. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. lifted its holdings 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 buying an additional 144,713 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Williams Companies by 3.3% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,648,918 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $410,064,000 after buying an additional 311,530 shares during the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Williams Companies by 13.4% in the 1st quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP now owns 8,540,611 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $332,828,000 after acquiring an additional 1,010,658 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bahl & Gaynor Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 8.8% in the 2nd quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 7,664,152 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $325,726,000 after acquiring an additional 618,056 shares during the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WMB opened at $52.50 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $63.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.06, a P/E/G ratio of 5.87 and a beta of 1.05. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $47.17 and its 200 day simple moving average is $43.36. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $32.65 and a fifty-two week high of $52.85. The company has a quick ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released its earnings results on Monday, August 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $2.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.46 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 27.11% and a return on equity of 16.17%. Williams Companies’s quarterly revenue was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.42 EPS. Equities analysts expect that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.91 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th were paid a dividend of $0.475 per share. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 13th. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is currently 79.83%.

Insider Transactions at Williams Companies

In related news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.29, for a total transaction of $90,580.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 304,200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,777,218. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Barclays boosted 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 report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Seaport Res Ptn cut shares of Williams Companies from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. CIBC lifted their target price on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target 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 equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $48.62.

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.