First Horizon Advisors Inc. Lowers Stock Position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

First Horizon Advisors Inc. trimmed its position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 9.9% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 6,524 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 719 shares during the quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $298,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WMB. SouthState Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the second quarter worth $31,000. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Williams Companies in the 2nd quarter worth $34,000. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton increased its stake in Williams Companies by 50.4% in the 3rd quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 752 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 252 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP bought a new stake in Williams Companies during the second quarter valued at about $35,000. Finally, Kimelman & Baird LLC bought a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the second quarter worth about $42,000. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Shares of Williams Companies stock opened at $59.65 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $72.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.04 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a current ratio of 0.57. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $51.35 and a 200-day moving average price of $45.64. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a one year low of $32.65 and a one year high of $60.36.

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. The company had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.52 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 27.36% and a return on equity of 15.89%. Williams Companies’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.45 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.91 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a dividend of $0.475 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.19%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 80.17%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WMB has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley raised Williams Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $52.00 to $58.00 in a report on Friday, October 4th. StockNews.com cut shares of Williams Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $42.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. UBS Group boosted their price target 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. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Williams Companies presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $51.54.

Insider Activity

In other Williams Companies news, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 7,951 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.30, for a total value of $447,641.30. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 25,858 shares in the company, valued at $1,455,805.40. This represents a 23.52 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.29, for a total value of $90,580.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 304,200 shares in the company, valued at $13,777,218. The trade was a 0.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

About Williams Companies

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.