First Hawaiian Bank Has $2.26 Million Stock Holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

First Hawaiian Bank lowered its position in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 21.3% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 41,695 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 11,278 shares during the period. First Hawaiian Bank’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $2,257,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 5,697,605 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in Williams Companies by 20.1% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 6,117,298 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $259,985,000 after acquiring an additional 1,024,158 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI increased its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 224.1% in the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 1,334,307 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $60,909,000 after acquiring an additional 922,550 shares in the last quarter. Castle Hook Partners LP raised its position in shares of Williams Companies by 31.7% during the third quarter. Castle Hook Partners LP now owns 2,989,278 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $136,461,000 after purchasing an additional 718,915 shares during the period. Finally, Bahl & Gaynor Inc. lifted its holdings 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 valued at $325,726,000 after purchasing an additional 618,056 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently issued reports on WMB. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $55.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Barclays lifted their price target on Williams Companies from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Bank of America initiated coverage on Williams Companies in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $55.00 price objective for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $52.07.

Williams Companies Stock Up 1.5 %

WMB opened at $56.40 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $55.61 and a 200-day moving average of $49.03. The company has a market capitalization of $68.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.80, a P/E/G ratio of 5.60 and a beta of 1.06. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $32.65 and a fifty-two week high of $60.36. 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 data on Wednesday, November 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 earnings per share 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.52 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.45 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.92 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared 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 3.37%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 80.17%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other 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 transaction of $447,641.30. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 25,858 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,455,805.40. This represents a 23.52 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

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.