Second Line Capital LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Second Line Capital LLC lowered its position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 15.1% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 4,485 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 797 shares during the period. Second Line Capital LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $243,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in WMB. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased its holdings in Williams Companies by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft now owns 5,568 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $300,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares during the period. EP Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Williams Companies by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 17,889 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $968,000 after purchasing an additional 183 shares during the period. Albion Financial Group UT lifted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 18.4% in the 4th quarter. Albion Financial Group UT now owns 1,184 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $64,000 after purchasing an additional 184 shares during the period. Sprinkle Financial Consultants LLC lifted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Sprinkle Financial Consultants LLC now owns 5,073 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $275,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares during the period. Finally, AMG National Trust Bank lifted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. AMG National Trust Bank now owns 30,813 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,669,000 after purchasing an additional 186 shares during the period. 86.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Larry C. Larsen sold 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.94, for a total value of $455,520.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 81,265 shares in the company, valued at $4,627,229.10. This represents a 8.96% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 8,896 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.50, for a total value of $511,520.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 22,339 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,284,492.50. The trade was a 28.48% 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 in the last ninety days. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Shares of WMB opened at $58.77 on Friday. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52 week low of $39.88 and a 52 week high of $61.67. The stock has a market cap of $71.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.11, a P/E/G ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 0.66. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $58.24 and its 200-day moving average price is $56.87. The company has a quick ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.60 earnings per share 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.90 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.59 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate 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 declared 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 payout ratio is 106.95%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WMB has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $63.00 target price on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Friday. Barclays lifted their price objective on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on Williams Companies from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Williams Companies from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, CIBC lifted their price objective on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Williams Companies presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $60.50.

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.