New Hampshire Trust Increases Stock Position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

New Hampshire Trust lifted its holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 11.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 25,373 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,558 shares during the period. New Hampshire Trust’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $828,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. raised its stake in Williams Companies by 52.5% during the second quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 915 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 315 shares during the period. Quadrant Capital Group LLC raised its stake in Williams Companies by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 10,547 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $347,000 after purchasing an additional 343 shares during the period. Bollard Group LLC raised its stake in Williams Companies by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Bollard Group LLC now owns 27,535 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $906,000 after purchasing an additional 346 shares during the period. OneAscent Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Williams Companies by 3.1% during the first quarter. OneAscent Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,842 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $354,000 after purchasing an additional 358 shares during the period. Finally, Horan Securities Inc. raised its stake in Williams Companies by 3.4% during the first quarter. Horan Securities Inc. now owns 11,062 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $330,000 after purchasing an additional 359 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.76% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Scott A. Hallam sold 7,193 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.00, for a total value of $237,369.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 226,973 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,490,109. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, SVP Scott A. Hallam sold 7,193 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.00, for a total value of $237,369.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 226,973 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,490,109. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Scott A. Hallam sold 7,194 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.00, for a total transaction of $223,014.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 241,360 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,482,160. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 21,581 shares of company stock worth $690,591 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WMB has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Thursday, August 17th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Mizuho boosted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 22nd. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $39.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 29th. TD Securities reduced their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $39.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 4th. Finally, CIBC assumed coverage on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Monday, July 17th. They issued a “neutral” rating on the stock. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $36.27.

Williams Companies Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of WMB stock traded down $0.38 during trading on Friday, reaching $34.34. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 10,848,773 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,221,802. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52, a current ratio of 0.49 and a quick ratio of 0.44. The company has a market capitalization of $41.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.75, a P/E/G ratio of 5.14 and a beta of 1.18. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $34.29 and its 200 day moving average price is $31.49. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1-year low of $27.80 and a 1-year high of $35.46.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 2nd. The pipeline company reported $0.42 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39 by $0.03. Williams Companies had a net margin of 23.07% and a return on equity of 17.35%. The firm had revenue of $2.48 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.66 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.40 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.93 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.4475 per share. This represents a $1.79 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 8th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 82.11%.

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 Transco and Northwest natural gas pipelines; and natural gas gathering and processing, and crude oil production handling and transportation assets in the Gulf Coast region, as well as various petrochemical and feedstock pipelines.