The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) Position Raised by Fiduciary Trust Co

Fiduciary Trust Co increased its position in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 5.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 7,789 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 433 shares during the period. Fiduciary Trust Co’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $422,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WMB. Barclays PLC raised its holdings in Williams Companies by 3.4% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 3,271,141 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $149,326,000 after purchasing an additional 108,675 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 2.3% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,576,165 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $71,952,000 after buying an additional 35,981 shares in the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 35,660 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,930,000 after buying an additional 872 shares in the last quarter. Czech National Bank lifted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 6.4% during the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 264,306 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $14,304,000 after acquiring an additional 15,997 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brookstone Capital Management lifted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 63.5% during the 4th quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 19,758 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,069,000 after acquiring an additional 7,676 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:WMB opened at $57.67 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $39.57 and a 1 year high of $61.67. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $57.91 and a 200 day simple moving average of $56.73. The firm has a market cap of $70.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.51, a P/E/G ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 0.66.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.05. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 15.85% and a net margin of 21.17%. The business had revenue of $3.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.90 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.59 earnings per share. Williams Companies’s quarterly revenue was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.47%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is 106.95%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WMB has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Barclays increased their price objective on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Williams Companies from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. CIBC increased their price objective on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Williams Companies from $58.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on Williams Companies from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Williams Companies currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $60.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Williams Companies 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 81,265 shares of the company’s stock, 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 stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.46, for a total transaction of $1,467,960.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 133,048 shares in the company, valued at $7,511,890.08. The trade was a 16.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 139,583 shares of company stock worth $7,563,278. Corporate insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

About Williams Companies

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.