Rockland Trust Co. Acquires New Holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Rockland Trust Co. purchased a new stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 4,869 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $207,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Williams Companies during the fourth quarter valued at $306,417,000. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 15.7% in the 1st quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 108,302 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $4,221,000 after buying an additional 14,672 shares in the last quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S raised its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 145.5% during the 1st quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 95,359 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $3,716,000 after purchasing an additional 56,509 shares in the last quarter. ETF Store Inc. lifted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. ETF Store Inc. now owns 28,444 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $991,000 after buying an additional 899 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Eagle Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Williams Companies by 24.5% in the 4th quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,636,222 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $91,820,000 after purchasing an additional 518,009 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Shares of WMB stock traded up $0.29 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $44.79. 1,010,771 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,506,438. The company has a market capitalization of $54.59 billion, a PE ratio of 18.70, a PEG ratio of 6.09 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a current ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12-month low of $32.49 and a 12-month high of $45.10. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $42.82 and its 200-day simple moving average is $39.75.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $2.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.46 billion. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 16.17% and a net margin of 27.11%. The firm’s revenue was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.42 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.475 per share. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is currently 79.83%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WMB has been the topic of several analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, June 13th. Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. US Capital Advisors downgraded shares of Williams Companies from an “overweight” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 29th. Finally, CIBC boosted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Williams Companies presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $42.58.

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.