First County Bank CT Trims Holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

First County Bank CT lowered its position in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 18.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor 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 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of WMB. Private Advisor Group LLC increased its stake in Williams Companies by 14.3% in the 2nd quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 98,155 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $4,172,000 after buying an additional 12,301 shares in the last quarter. Candriam S.C.A. raised its stake in Williams Companies by 2.3% during the 2nd quarter. Candriam S.C.A. now owns 127,806 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $5,432,000 after purchasing an additional 2,922 shares during the period. Savant Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Williams Companies by 19.6% in the 2nd quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 15,519 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $660,000 after purchasing an additional 2,548 shares in the last quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. boosted its stake in Williams Companies by 29.7% in the 2nd quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 9,886 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $420,000 after purchasing an additional 2,262 shares during the period. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in Williams Companies during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,899,000. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Williams Companies

In related news, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 7,951 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.30, for a total value of $447,641.30. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 25,858 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,455,805.40. This represents a 23.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Mizuho boosted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Williams Companies from $55.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised Williams Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $52.00 to $58.00 in a research note on Friday, October 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Williams Companies presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $52.07.

Williams Companies Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of WMB stock traded down $0.42 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $55.39. 2,442,847 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,175,823. The firm has a market capitalization of $67.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.60 and a beta of 1.06. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12-month low of $32.65 and a 12-month high of $60.36. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $55.46 and its 200-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.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released its 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 return on equity of 15.89% and a net margin of 27.36%. 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 firm posted $0.45 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th were paid a dividend of $0.475 per share. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 80.17%.

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.