Central Pacific Bank Trust Division Sells 200 Shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Central Pacific Bank Trust Division cut its holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 1.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,800 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 200 shares during the period. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $639,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of WMB. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in Williams Companies by 19.0% in 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 purchasing an additional 5,697,605 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Williams Companies by 1.7% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 30,722,702 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,398,004,000 after buying an additional 520,663 shares during the last quarter. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. raised its position in Williams Companies by 1.2% in the second quarter. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. now owns 12,670,175 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $538,482,000 after acquiring an additional 144,713 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Williams Companies by 3.3% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,648,918 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $410,064,000 after acquiring an additional 311,530 shares during the period. Finally, Bahl & Gaynor Inc. increased its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 8.8% during 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 last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 7,951 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of WMB stock opened at $56.60 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $69.00 billion, a PE ratio of 23.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.60 and a beta of 1.05. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52-week low of $32.65 and a 52-week high of $60.36. The business’s fifty day moving average is $55.31 and its 200 day moving average is $48.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a current ratio of 0.57.

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

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th were issued a $0.475 dividend. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is 80.17%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. CIBC increased their price objective on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Morgan Stanley raised Williams Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $52.00 to $58.00 in a report on Friday, October 4th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target 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 research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $52.07.

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.