Patten & Patten Inc. TN Decreases Position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Patten & Patten Inc. TN cut its position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 15.3% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 11,095 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 2,000 shares during the quarter. Patten & Patten Inc. TN’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $506,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in WMB. SouthState Corp purchased a new stake in Williams Companies during the second quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton boosted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 50.4% in the third quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 752 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 252 shares during the period. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the second quarter worth approximately $34,000. Quarry LP bought a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the second quarter worth approximately $35,000. Finally, Fortitude Family Office LLC boosted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 120.8% in the third quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 996 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 545 shares during the period. 86.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Williams Companies Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of WMB opened at $56.90 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $69.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.37 and a beta of 1.03. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12-month low of $32.65 and a 12-month high of $57.33. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $48.81 and its 200 day moving average price is $44.42. The company has a current ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 0.39 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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.52 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 27.36% and a return on equity of 15.89%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.45 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.475 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.34%. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is 80.17%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Williams Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $52.00 to $58.00 in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Bank of America began coverage on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $55.00 price objective for the company. CIBC increased their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $50.38.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 304,200 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,777,218. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

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.