Bank & Trust Co Trims Holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Bank & Trust Co lowered its position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 4.6% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 17,807 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 864 shares during the period. Bank & Trust Co’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $964,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brendel Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake 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 worth $2,370,000 after acquiring an additional 419 shares during the period. World Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Williams Companies during the 3rd quarter worth about $545,000. Swiss National Bank raised its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 3,617,300 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $165,130,000 after buying an additional 9,800 shares during the last quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. raised its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 39,880 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Banque Cantonale Vaudoise lifted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 402.9% in the 3rd quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise now owns 91,983 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $4,199,000 after buying an additional 73,693 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Truist Financial lifted their price target on Williams Companies from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $55.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Williams Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $52.00 to $58.00 in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. One 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $52.07.

Williams Companies Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of WMB stock traded down $0.19 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $55.62. The company had a trading volume of 1,291,884 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,880,472. 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. The company’s fifty day moving average is $55.46 and its 200 day moving average is $48.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $67.80 billion, a PE ratio of 23.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.60 and a beta of 1.06.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.01. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 15.89% and a net margin of 27.36%. The business had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.52 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.45 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th were given a dividend of $0.475 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.42%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 80.17%.

Insider Activity

In other Williams Companies news, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 7,951 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.30, for a total transaction of $447,641.30. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 25,858 shares in the company, valued at $1,455,805.40. This represents a 23.52 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Company 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.