Eagle Global Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Williams Partners LP (NYSE:WPZ) by 14.3% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,380,412 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after buying an additional 297,345 shares during the period. Williams Partners makes up approximately 2.7% of Eagle Global Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest position. Eagle Global Advisors LLC owned approximately 0.25% of Williams Partners worth $95,478,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Capital Advisors Inc. OK increased its position in shares of Williams Partners by 16.7% in the first quarter. Capital Advisors Inc. OK now owns 17,892 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $731,000 after buying an additional 2,565 shares in the last quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D boosted its position in Williams Partners by 22.9% in the first quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 217,700 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $8,889,000 after buying an additional 40,600 shares during the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its position in Williams Partners by 78.7% in the first quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 98,691 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $4,030,000 after buying an additional 43,468 shares during the last quarter. Chickasaw Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Williams Partners by 71.1% in the first quarter. Chickasaw Capital Management LLC now owns 350,000 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $14,290,000 after buying an additional 145,400 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Manhattan Co. boosted its position in Williams Partners by 13.4% in the first quarter. First Manhattan Co. now owns 64,071 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $2,382,000 after buying an additional 7,563 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 23.55% of the company’s stock.
Williams Partners LP (NYSE WPZ) traded up 0.08% during trading on Friday, hitting $37.74. 560,549 shares of the stock traded hands. Williams Partners LP has a 12 month low of $32.93 and a 12 month high of $42.32. The stock has a market cap of $36.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.69 and a beta of 1.43. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $40.03 and its 200-day moving average is $40.11.
Williams Partners (NYSE:WPZ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 2nd. The pipeline company reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $1.92 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.13 billion. Williams Partners had a return on equity of 5.90% and a net margin of 17.82%. On average, analysts forecast that Williams Partners LP will post $0.76 EPS for the current year.
The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 11th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 4th were given a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 2nd. Williams Partners’s payout ratio is 143.71%.
WPZ has been the subject of a number of research reports. Credit Suisse Group raised shares of Williams Partners from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $45.00 to $47.00 in a report on Friday, May 12th. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $48.00 price objective on shares of Williams Partners in a research report on Friday, July 21st. BidaskClub upgraded shares of Williams Partners from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 5th. Zacks Investment Research upgraded shares of Williams Partners from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $46.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 18th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets set a $47.00 target price on shares of Williams Partners and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. The stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $44.77.
Williams Partners Company Profile
Williams Partners L.P. is an energy infrastructure company. The Company has operations across the natural gas value chain from gathering, processing, and interstate transportation of natural gas and natural gas liquids to petchem production of ethylene, propylene, and other olefins. It operates through its Northeast G&P, Atlantic-Gulf, West segment.
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