Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC Trims Stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC lessened its position in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 1.8% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 38,631 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 719 shares during the quarter. Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $2,091,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brookstone Capital Management raised its position in Williams Companies by 38.0% in the 3rd quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 12,082 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $552,000 after purchasing an additional 3,327 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. increased its stake in Williams Companies by 3.2% in the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 14,255 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $651,000 after purchasing an additional 441 shares during the period. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt raised its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 477.5% in the third quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 12,215 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $557,000 after buying an additional 10,100 shares during the last quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 5.5% during the third quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 6,459 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $295,000 after buying an additional 337 shares during the period. Finally, Chickasaw Capital Management LLC increased its position in Williams Companies by 26.8% in the 3rd quarter. Chickasaw Capital Management LLC now owns 2,097,941 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $95,771,000 after acquiring an additional 443,423 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Stock Down 0.1 %

WMB stock opened at $55.93 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 0.57 and a quick ratio of 0.51. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $55.91 and its 200-day simple moving average is $51.19. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12 month low of $32.65 and a 12 month high of $61.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $68.18 billion, a PE ratio of 23.60, a P/E/G ratio of 5.06 and a beta of 1.04.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.52 billion. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 15.89% and a net margin of 27.36%. The business’s revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.45 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. This is a positive change from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.58%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is currently 80.17%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. Scotiabank reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $51.00 target price on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Friday, January 10th. CIBC lifted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $55.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $46.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $53.00.

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.