First County Bank CT Sells 6,257 Shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

First County Bank CT lessened its holdings in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 18.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 26,941 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 6,257 shares during the quarter. First County Bank CT’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $1,458,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of WMB. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of Williams Companies by 19.0% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 35,734,666 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,631,288,000 after buying an additional 5,697,605 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Williams Companies by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 30,722,702 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,398,004,000 after purchasing an additional 520,663 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 3.3% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,648,918 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $410,064,000 after acquiring an additional 311,530 shares during the last quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. raised its position in Williams Companies by 8.8% in the 2nd quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 7,664,152 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $325,726,000 after purchasing an additional 618,056 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Williams Companies by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,239,210 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $330,470,000 after purchasing an additional 67,016 shares during the period. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Williams Companies

In other news, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 7,951 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 25,858 shares in the company, valued at $1,455,805.40. This trade represents a 23.52 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WMB has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley raised Williams Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $52.00 to $58.00 in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Williams Companies from $55.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. CIBC lifted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $52.07.

Williams Companies Stock Down 0.8 %

NYSE:WMB traded down $0.42 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $55.39. 2,442,847 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,175,823. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $55.46 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $48.88. The company has a current ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $67.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.37, a P/E/G ratio of 5.60 and a beta of 1.06. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $32.65 and a 1 year high of $60.36.

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

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th were issued 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 3.43%. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is 80.17%.

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.