Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc Sells 914 Shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc cut its holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 2.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 45,383 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 914 shares during the period. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $2,456,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Quent Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Bank of Jackson Hole Trust bought a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. AlphaMark Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Compass Planning Associates Inc bought a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, Financial Life Planners bought a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. 86.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on WMB shares. Scotiabank reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $51.00 price objective on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Friday, January 10th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Williams Companies from $55.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Mizuho boosted their target price on Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on Williams Companies from $46.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Williams Companies has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $53.29.

Williams Companies Price Performance

WMB stock opened at $57.44 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $70.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.50. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52-week low of $34.26 and a 52-week high of $61.46. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $56.15 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $52.25.

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

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.48%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is an increase from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is presently 103.83%.

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.