Essex Savings Bank Purchases New Position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Essex Savings Bank purchased a new position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 3,834 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $207,000.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI raised its holdings in Williams Companies by 78.7% during the 2nd quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 12,994 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $552,000 after buying an additional 5,721 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its position in Williams Companies by 5.8% during the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,016,985 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $43,222,000 after acquiring an additional 56,000 shares during the last quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 0.6% in the second quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC now owns 263,620 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $11,204,000 after acquiring an additional 1,468 shares during the period. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT lifted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 7.7% in the 2nd quarter. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT now owns 9,789 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $416,000 after acquiring an additional 700 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co boosted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 8.3% during the 2nd quarter. Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co now owns 25,120 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,068,000 after purchasing an additional 1,920 shares during the period. 86.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Scotiabank restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $51.00 price objective on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Friday, January 10th. Barclays upped their price objective on Williams Companies from $46.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Bank of America began coverage on Williams Companies in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $55.00 target price for the company. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $53.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 7,951 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.30, for a total value of $447,641.30. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 25,858 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,455,805.40. The trade was a 23.52 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Williams Companies Price Performance

NYSE WMB opened at $59.13 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $72.08 billion, a PE ratio of 24.95, a P/E/G ratio of 5.36 and a beta of 1.06. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $56.00 and its 200-day moving average price is $49.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a current ratio of 0.57. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52-week low of $32.65 and a 52-week high of $60.36.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.52 billion. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 15.89% and a net margin of 27.36%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.45 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th were paid a $0.475 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.21%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 80.17%.

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.