Independence Bank of Kentucky Buys 4,248 Shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Independence Bank of Kentucky boosted its holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 20.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 25,045 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after buying an additional 4,248 shares during the period. Independence Bank of Kentucky’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $1,143,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Rise Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Williams Companies in the first quarter worth about $27,000. Fairman Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. SouthState Corp bought a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the 2nd quarter valued at $31,000. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Williams Companies during the second quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, Quarry LP purchased a new position in Williams Companies during the second quarter valued at $35,000. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Williams Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $52.00 to $58.00 in a report on Friday, October 4th. Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. Argus upgraded shares of Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 20th. Seaport Res Ptn cut shares of Williams Companies from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Williams Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $46.08.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Shares of WMB stock traded up $0.45 during trading on Friday, hitting $49.92. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 728,072 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,254,730. The business has a fifty day moving average of $45.26 and a 200-day moving average of $42.31. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52 week low of $32.65 and a 52 week high of $49.94. The company has a market cap of $60.84 billion, a PE ratio of 21.23, a P/E/G ratio of 6.90 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.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its earnings results on Monday, August 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.05. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 16.17% and a net margin of 27.11%. The company had revenue of $2.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.46 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.42 earnings per share. Williams Companies’s quarterly revenue was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th were issued a $0.475 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.81%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 81.55%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.29, for a total value of $90,580.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 304,200 shares in the company, valued at $13,777,218. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.