Heritage Trust Co Invests $532,000 in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Heritage Trust Co bought a new stake in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 9,833 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $532,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of WMB. First Foundation Advisors grew its position in shares of Williams Companies by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. First Foundation Advisors now owns 9,882 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $535,000 after purchasing an additional 284 shares in the last quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina grew its holdings in Williams Companies by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 535,272 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $28,969,000 after buying an additional 3,360 shares in the last quarter. Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Williams Companies in the 4th quarter worth approximately $218,000. Scotia Capital Inc. increased its stake in Williams Companies by 85.2% in the 4th quarter. Scotia Capital Inc. now owns 40,338 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $2,183,000 after acquiring an additional 18,555 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DRW Securities LLC bought a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $293,000. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Williams Companies news, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 8,896 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.50, for a total value of $511,520.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 22,339 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,284,492.50. This represents a 28.48 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Chad A. Teply sold 26,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.46, for a total value of $1,467,960.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 133,048 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,511,890.08. This represents a 16.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 139,583 shares of company stock valued at $7,563,278 over the last quarter. 0.44% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Williams Companies Stock Up 2.1 %

NYSE:WMB opened at $56.24 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $68.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 0.87. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a twelve month low of $37.18 and a twelve month high of $61.67. The company has a current ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $57.22 and a 200-day simple moving average of $55.43.

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

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $0.50 dividend. This is a positive change from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.56%. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is presently 109.29%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on WMB shares. CIBC boosted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Williams Companies from $58.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $56.07.

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.