Smith Moore & CO. Has $438,000 Stock Position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Smith Moore & CO. cut its stake in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 40.0% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 8,084 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 5,390 shares during the quarter. Smith Moore & CO.’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $438,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in WMB. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised its stake in Williams Companies by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft now owns 5,568 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $300,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares in the last quarter. Albion Financial Group UT raised its position in shares of Williams Companies by 18.4% in the fourth quarter. Albion Financial Group UT now owns 1,184 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $64,000 after buying an additional 184 shares in the last quarter. Sprinkle Financial Consultants LLC boosted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Sprinkle Financial Consultants LLC now owns 5,073 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $275,000 after buying an additional 185 shares during the period. AMG National Trust Bank grew its position in Williams Companies by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. AMG National Trust Bank now owns 30,813 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,669,000 after buying an additional 186 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tower Wealth Partners Inc. increased its stake in Williams Companies by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. Tower Wealth Partners Inc. now owns 4,591 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $248,000 after acquiring an additional 191 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently issued reports on WMB. Truist Financial increased their target price on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, March 6th. CIBC upped their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $56.07.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:WMB opened at $54.61 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.50. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52 week low of $37.18 and a 52 week high of $61.67. The firm has a market cap of $66.59 billion, a PE ratio of 29.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 0.87. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $57.25 and its 200-day moving average is $55.02.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The pipeline company reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.47. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 15.85% and a net margin of 21.17%. Sell-side analysts predict that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was 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 3.66%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 109.29%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Larry C. Larsen sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.94, for a total transaction of $455,520.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 81,265 shares in the company, valued at $4,627,229.10. This represents a 8.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Chad A. Teply sold 26,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.46, for a total transaction of $1,467,960.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 133,048 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,511,890.08. The trade was a 16.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 139,583 shares of company stock worth $7,563,278. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.