FineMark National Bank & Trust Reduces Stock Position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

FineMark National Bank & Trust decreased its position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 8.5% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 11,179 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 1,037 shares during the quarter. FineMark National Bank & Trust’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $605,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of WMB. Dudley Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Williams Companies by 19.5% during the 4th quarter. Dudley Capital Management LLC now owns 41,775 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $2,261,000 after purchasing an additional 6,805 shares during the period. CoreFirst Bank & Trust bought a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the 4th quarter worth approximately $116,000. Prudential Financial Inc. grew its position in shares of Williams Companies by 25.8% in the 4th quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 2,763,277 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $149,549,000 after buying an additional 566,447 shares during the last quarter. Corebridge Financial Inc. increased its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 8.4% during the fourth quarter. Corebridge Financial Inc. now owns 331,318 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $17,931,000 after buying an additional 25,598 shares during the period. Finally, Congress Wealth Management LLC DE bought a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $703,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WMB has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, CIBC lifted their price target on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $56.07.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:WMB opened at $60.78 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $57.25 and a 200-day moving average price of $54.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 0.50 and a quick ratio of 0.45. The company has a market capitalization of $74.11 billion, a PE ratio of 33.21, a PEG ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 1.03. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1-year low of $37.18 and a 1-year high of $61.67.

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

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. This is a positive change from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is presently 109.29%.

Insider Activity at Williams Companies

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Chad A. Teply sold 26,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.46, for a total value of $1,467,960.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 133,048 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,511,890.08. The trade was a 16.35 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 8,896 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.50, for a total transaction of $511,520.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 22,339 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,284,492.50. The trade was a 28.48 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 139,583 shares of company stock valued at $7,563,278. 0.44% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.