Essex Financial Services Inc. Sells 5,670 Shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Essex Financial Services Inc. lowered its position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 28.2% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 14,430 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 5,670 shares during the period. Essex Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $781,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 19.0% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 35,734,666 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,631,288,000 after acquiring an additional 5,697,605 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in Williams Companies by 3,490.2% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,600,239 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $86,605,000 after purchasing an additional 1,555,667 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its stake in Williams Companies by 224.1% in the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 1,334,307 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $60,909,000 after purchasing an additional 922,550 shares during the period. Castle Hook Partners LP grew its holdings in Williams Companies by 31.7% during the 3rd quarter. Castle Hook Partners LP now owns 2,989,278 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $136,461,000 after buying an additional 718,915 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Williams Companies by 1.7% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 30,722,702 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,398,004,000 after buying an additional 520,663 shares during the period. 86.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Williams Companies Trading Down 0.7 %

WMB stock opened at $54.83 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $66.84 billion, a PE ratio of 23.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.06 and a beta of 1.04. 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 Williams Companies, Inc. has a one year low of $32.65 and a one year high of $61.46. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $55.87 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $51.49.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The pipeline company reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47. Williams Companies had a net margin of 27.36% and a return on equity of 15.89%. As a group, analysts predict that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.65%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 80.17%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on WMB. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $55.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Bank of America began coverage on Williams Companies in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $55.00 price objective on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group upped 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, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. One research 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Williams Companies has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $53.00.

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.