Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co Decreases Stock Holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co trimmed its position in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 4.7% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 8,524 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 419 shares during the period. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $461,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of WMB. Quent Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Bank of Jackson Hole Trust acquired a new position in Williams Companies during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. AlphaMark Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Williams Companies in the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,000. Compass Planning Associates Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Finally, Financial Life Planners acquired a new stake in Williams Companies during the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on WMB shares. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $55.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $46.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Scotiabank reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $51.00 price target on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $54.21.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:WMB opened at $56.93 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $69.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 1.05. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $56.36 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $52.53. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $34.54 and a fifty-two week high of $61.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 0.50 and a quick ratio of 0.45.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The pipeline company reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47. Williams Companies had a net margin of 21.17% and a return on equity of 15.85%. As a group, analysts predict that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.51%. This is a boost from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is 109.29%.

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.