Emprise Bank Sells 718 Shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Emprise Bank lowered its holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 12.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,935 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 718 shares during the quarter. Emprise Bank’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $225,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WMB. Rise Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Fairman Group LLC bought a new stake in Williams Companies in the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. SouthState Corp acquired a new position in Williams Companies during the second quarter worth $31,000. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the second quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, Quarry LP acquired a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the 2nd quarter valued at $35,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WMB has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 8th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Williams Companies from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Truist Financial raised their price target on Williams Companies from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $43.83.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.29, for a total transaction of $90,580.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 304,200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,777,218. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Williams Companies stock opened at $47.64 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $44.48 and its 200 day simple moving average is $41.87. The company has a quick ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64. The stock has a market cap of $58.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.02, a P/E/G ratio of 6.20 and a beta of 1.05. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12-month low of $32.49 and a 12-month high of $47.66.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued its earnings results on Monday, August 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $2.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.46 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 27.11% and a return on equity of 16.17%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.42 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th were given a dividend of $0.475 per share. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 13th. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is 79.83%.

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.