Park Place Capital Corp Trims Stock Position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Park Place Capital Corp cut its stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 24.3% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 15,926 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 5,101 shares during the period. Park Place Capital Corp’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $677,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 18.6% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,133 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $106,000 after buying an additional 491 shares during the last quarter. Patten & Patten Inc. TN increased its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 12.1% during the fourth quarter. Patten & Patten Inc. TN now owns 10,165 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $354,000 after acquiring an additional 1,100 shares during the period. DAVENPORT & Co LLC increased its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 192,377 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $6,700,000 after acquiring an additional 4,818 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. increased its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 30.5% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 17,928 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $624,000 after acquiring an additional 4,194 shares during the period. Finally, Trust Point Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the fourth quarter worth about $311,000. 86.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Williams Companies Trading Down 2.1 %

Shares of WMB traded down $0.91 on Friday, hitting $42.20. 5,833,937 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,237,502. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $51.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.73, a P/E/G ratio of 6.62 and a beta of 1.05. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $42.18 and its two-hundred day moving average is $38.96. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $32.49 and a 1 year high of $45.10.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $2.77 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.69 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 27.29% and a return on equity of 16.27%. Williams Companies’s revenue was down 10.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.56 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.475 per share. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 79.83%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 13th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 12th. Argus upgraded shares of Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 20th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Finally, Wolfe Research reiterated an “underperform” rating and issued a $34.00 price target on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $41.77.

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.