Kinsale Capital Group Inc. Has $6.17 Million Stock Holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Kinsale Capital Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 16.1% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 135,076 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after buying an additional 18,747 shares during the period. Williams Companies accounts for about 1.8% of Kinsale Capital Group Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest holding. Kinsale Capital Group Inc.’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $6,166,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. grew its position in Williams Companies by 9.2% during the 1st quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 31,557 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,230,000 after acquiring an additional 2,666 shares during the last quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. boosted its stake in Williams Companies by 13.4% in the first quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 116,052 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $4,523,000 after purchasing an additional 13,709 shares in the last quarter. M&G Plc bought a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the first quarter worth $1,036,000. Intech Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 97.7% during the first quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 24,333 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $948,000 after purchasing an additional 12,022 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cornerstone Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 12.9% in the first quarter. Cornerstone Advisors LLC now owns 22,800 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $889,000 after buying an additional 2,600 shares during the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WMB has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Scotiabank increased their price target 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. Barclays upped their price target on Williams Companies from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Morgan Stanley upgraded Williams Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $52.00 to $58.00 in a research report on Friday, October 4th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Williams Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on Williams Companies from $55.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $51.54.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.29, for a total value of $90,580.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 304,200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,777,218. The trade was a 0.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 7,951 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, 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 Trading Up 1.7 %

Shares of WMB stock traded up $0.97 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $56.55. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 7,461,837 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,889,876. 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 company has a market cap of $68.94 billion, a PE ratio of 23.86, a P/E/G ratio of 5.73 and a beta of 1.03. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $49.94 and its 200-day simple moving average is $44.93. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52 week low of $32.65 and a 52 week high of $57.33.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.52 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 27.36% and a return on equity of 15.89%. Williams Companies’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.45 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.475 per share. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.36%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. 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.