Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. Lowers Stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. lowered its holdings in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 7.5% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 53,532 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 4,368 shares during the quarter. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co.’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $2,897,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its holdings in Williams Companies by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 36,554 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,554,000 after acquiring an additional 353 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP bought a new stake in Williams Companies in the 2nd quarter worth $35,000. Czech National Bank grew its holdings in Williams Companies by 6.9% in the 3rd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 248,309 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $11,335,000 after acquiring an additional 16,064 shares during the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC grew its holdings in Williams Companies by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 62,159 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $2,838,000 after acquiring an additional 1,166 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in Williams Companies by 30.0% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 31,089 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,419,000 after acquiring an additional 7,177 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Williams Companies

In other news, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 7,951 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.30, for a total value of $447,641.30. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 25,858 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,455,805.40. This represents a 23.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on WMB. Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Mizuho lifted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price 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. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $46.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $55.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Williams Companies has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $53.00.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE WMB opened at $55.43 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $56.12 and a 200 day moving average of $50.80. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $67.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 1.05. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12-month low of $32.65 and a 12-month high of $61.46.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.52 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 27.36% and a return on equity of 15.89%. The company’s revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.45 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is an increase from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. 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.