Central Pacific Bank Trust Division Decreases Holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Central Pacific Bank Trust Division decreased its holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 1.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. 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 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in WMB. Everence Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Williams Companies during the fourth quarter valued at about $2,926,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 10.7% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 34,400 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,862,000 after acquiring an additional 3,311 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Williams Companies by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,576,165 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $71,952,000 after acquiring an additional 35,981 shares during the period. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas bought a new position in Williams Companies during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,482,000. Finally, Inspire Trust Co. N.A. increased its stake in Williams Companies by 16.4% in the 3rd quarter. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. now owns 77,900 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $3,556,000 after purchasing an additional 11,000 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WMB has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. UBS Group upped their price objective 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. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised Williams Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $52.00 to $58.00 in a research report on Friday, October 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $52.07.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Shares of Williams Companies stock opened at $56.60 on Friday. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12 month low of $32.65 and a 12 month high of $60.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $69.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.88, a P/E/G ratio of 5.60 and a beta of 1.05. 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 business has a fifty day simple moving average of $55.31 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $48.58.

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

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th were given a dividend of $0.475 per share. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.36%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 80.17%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams Companies

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

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.