Pioneer Trust Bank N A OR Purchases New Position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Pioneer Trust Bank N A OR purchased a new stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 5,091 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $276,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WMB. IHT Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Williams Companies by 24.4% during the 3rd quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC now owns 17,701 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $811,000 after acquiring an additional 3,477 shares in the last quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. increased its position in shares of Williams Companies by 36.3% during the third quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 195,037 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $8,903,000 after purchasing an additional 51,935 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP boosted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 548.1% in the 3rd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 5,334 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $243,000 after purchasing an additional 4,511 shares during the period. Quantinno Capital Management LP boosted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 20.5% in the 3rd quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 105,077 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $4,797,000 after purchasing an additional 17,875 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in 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 buying an additional 5,697,605 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Williams Companies stock opened at $54.61 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $66.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 0.87. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a one year low of $37.18 and a one year high of $61.67. The business has a fifty day moving average of $57.25 and a two-hundred day moving average of $54.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.50.

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

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.50 dividend. This is an increase from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 109.29%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Chad A. Teply sold 26,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 133,048 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,511,890.08. This trade represents a 16.35 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 8,896 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.50, for a total transaction of $511,520.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 22,339 shares in the company, valued at $1,284,492.50. This trade represents a 28.48 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 139,583 shares of company stock valued at $7,563,278. 0.44% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on WMB shares. Citigroup increased their price objective on Williams Companies from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $58.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 25th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price target on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $56.07.

Williams Companies Company 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.