CENTRAL TRUST Co Trims Stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

CENTRAL TRUST Co cut its stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 9.2% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 18,637 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 1,898 shares during the quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $851,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Blackstone Inc. raised its position in shares of Williams Companies by 109.1% in the first quarter. Blackstone Inc. now owns 6,466,660 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $252,006,000 after acquiring an additional 3,373,800 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC raised its holdings in Williams Companies by 40.1% in the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 5,753,223 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $224,203,000 after purchasing an additional 1,647,469 shares during the period. Castle Hook Partners LP acquired a new stake in Williams Companies in the first quarter valued at approximately $57,220,000. Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its position in shares of Williams Companies by 5.9% in the first quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 20,983,727 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $817,736,000 after buying an additional 1,175,628 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 20.1% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 6,117,298 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $259,985,000 after buying an additional 1,024,158 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Williams Companies

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.29, for a total transaction of $90,580.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 304,200 shares in the company, valued at $13,777,218. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.44% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

NYSE:WMB opened at $52.51 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $47.00 and its two-hundred day moving average is $43.20. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1-year low of $32.65 and a 1-year high of $52.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 0.45 and a quick ratio of 0.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $64.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.06, a PEG ratio of 5.87 and a beta of 1.05.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $2.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.46 billion. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 16.17% and a net margin of 27.11%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.42 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.91 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th were given a dividend of $0.475 per share. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 13th. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is 79.83%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on WMB shares. Seaport Res Ptn lowered shares of Williams Companies from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. CIBC raised their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on Williams Companies from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. StockNews.com cut Williams Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on Williams Companies from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Williams Companies presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $48.62.

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.