First Bank & Trust Decreases Stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

First Bank & Trust lessened its stake in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 99,621 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 1,872 shares during the period. Williams Companies makes up about 0.9% of First Bank & Trust’s portfolio, making the stock its 22nd biggest position. First Bank & Trust’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $4,548,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. SouthState Corp purchased a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the 2nd quarter valued at about $31,000. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the second quarter worth about $34,000. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the 2nd quarter valued at about $35,000. Kimelman & Baird LLC purchased a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the 2nd quarter valued at about $42,000. Finally, EntryPoint Capital LLC acquired a new position in Williams Companies in the 1st quarter worth about $50,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.29, for a total transaction of $90,580.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 304,200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,777,218. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Williams Companies Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of WMB stock traded down $0.12 during trading on Friday, hitting $52.50. 5,595,874 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,250,945. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52-week low of $32.65 and a 52-week high of $52.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $63.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.87 and a beta of 1.05. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $47.17 and its 200-day moving average price is $43.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 0.45 and a quick ratio of 0.39.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced 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 business had revenue of $2.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.46 billion. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 16.17% and a net margin of 27.11%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.42 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th were issued a $0.475 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.62%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 79.83%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on WMB shares. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Williams Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $52.00 to $58.00 in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Williams Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Williams Companies presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $48.62.

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.