New York State Common Retirement Fund Trims Holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

New York State Common Retirement Fund cut its position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 19.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 638,769 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 155,042 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned about 0.05% of Williams Companies worth $29,160,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. SouthState Corp purchased a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the second quarter valued at about $31,000. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the second quarter worth $34,000. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton boosted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 50.4% during the third quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 752 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 252 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP bought a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the 2nd quarter valued at about $35,000. Finally, Kimelman & Baird LLC bought a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the second quarter worth about $42,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Trading Down 1.5 %

NYSE WMB opened at $51.56 on Monday. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12-month low of $32.65 and a 12-month high of $52.85. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $47.90 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $43.86. The company has a current ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64. The stock has a market cap of $62.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.13, a P/E/G ratio of 5.87 and a beta of 1.03.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $2.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.46 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 27.11% and a return on equity of 16.17%. The firm’s revenue was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.42 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WMB has been the subject of several research analyst reports. UBS Group raised their price target on Williams Companies from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. StockNews.com downgraded Williams Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn cut Williams Companies from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Williams Companies presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $48.62.

Insider Activity at Williams Companies

In other news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.29, for a total transaction of $90,580.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 304,200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,777,218. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.44% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.