Beech Hill Advisors Inc. Trims Stock Position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Beech Hill Advisors Inc. decreased its position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 4.3% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 34,083 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 1,517 shares during the period. Beech Hill Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $1,845,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Board of the Pension Protection Fund purchased a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the 4th quarter worth $720,000. Brendel Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 0.8% in the third quarter. Brendel Financial Advisors LLC now owns 51,927 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $2,370,000 after acquiring an additional 419 shares in the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Williams Companies in the third quarter worth about $545,000. Swiss National Bank grew its holdings in Williams Companies by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 3,617,300 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $165,130,000 after acquiring an additional 9,800 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Valley National Advisers Inc. increased its position in Williams Companies by 1,855.7% during the 3rd quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 42,029 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,918,000 after purchasing an additional 39,880 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

WMB traded up $0.15 on Thursday, reaching $58.16. 386,230 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,285,117. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $55.95 and its 200 day moving average price is $49.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $70.90 billion, a PE ratio of 24.54, a PEG ratio of 5.36 and a beta of 1.06. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $32.65 and a fifty-two week high of $60.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 0.57 and a quick ratio of 0.51.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.52 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 27.36% and a return on equity of 15.89%. Williams Companies’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.45 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th were issued a $0.475 dividend. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.27%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is 80.17%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams Companies

In other news, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 7,951 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.30, for a total value of $447,641.30. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 25,858 shares in the company, valued at $1,455,805.40. This represents a 23.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $55.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Barclays upped their price objective on Williams Companies from $46.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Finally, 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Williams Companies presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $53.00.

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.