Hancock Whitney Corp Has $294,000 Stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Hancock Whitney Corp cut its holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 10.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 6,447 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 791 shares during the quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $294,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of WMB. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. grew its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 1.2% during the second quarter. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. now owns 12,670,175 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $538,482,000 after purchasing an additional 144,713 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 3.3% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,648,918 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $410,064,000 after acquiring an additional 311,530 shares during the last quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. raised its position in shares of Williams Companies by 8.8% in the 2nd quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 7,664,152 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $325,726,000 after acquiring an additional 618,056 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Williams Companies by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,239,210 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $330,470,000 after acquiring an additional 67,016 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in Williams Companies by 20.1% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 6,117,298 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $259,985,000 after purchasing an additional 1,024,158 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on WMB. CIBC lifted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Bank of America started coverage on Williams Companies in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $55.00 target price on the stock. StockNews.com cut shares of Williams Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Williams Companies presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $51.79.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams Companies

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the business’s 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 304,200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,777,218. The trade was a 0.65 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 7,951 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.30, for a total transaction of $447,641.30. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 25,858 shares in the company, valued at $1,455,805.40. This represents a 23.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Price Performance

NYSE:WMB opened at $58.14 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $70.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.53, a P/E/G ratio of 6.01 and a beta of 1.03. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $52.12 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $46.08. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a one year low of $32.65 and a one year high of $60.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 0.57 and a quick ratio of 0.51.

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

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a $0.475 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.27%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 80.17%.

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.