Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund Decreases Stock Holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund trimmed its holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 8.2% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 36,089 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 3,221 shares during the period. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $1,647,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of WMB. M&G Plc purchased a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the first quarter valued at approximately $1,036,000. Intech Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 97.7% during the first quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 24,333 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $948,000 after purchasing an additional 12,022 shares during the last quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board acquired a new position in Williams Companies in the first quarter valued at $218,000. Patten & Patten Inc. TN lifted its position in Williams Companies by 19.5% during the first quarter. Patten & Patten Inc. TN now owns 12,145 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $473,000 after buying an additional 1,980 shares during the period. Finally, Edgestream Partners L.P. boosted its stake in Williams Companies by 539.1% in the 1st quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 120,278 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $4,687,000 after buying an additional 101,459 shares during the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Williams Companies 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 sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 25,858 shares of the company’s stock, 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.29, for a total transaction of $90,580.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 304,200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,777,218. This trade represents a 0.65 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.44% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on WMB. Citigroup increased their price objective 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. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. StockNews.com lowered Williams Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $55.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Williams Companies presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $51.54.

Williams Companies Stock Up 1.7 %

Shares of Williams Companies stock opened at $56.55 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $49.94 and a 200 day moving average price of $44.98. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $32.65 and a fifty-two week high of $57.33. The firm has a market cap of $68.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.86, a P/E/G ratio of 5.83 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a quick ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 0.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.01. The business 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 business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.45 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

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

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.