Private Trust Co. NA Sells 296 Shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Private Trust Co. NA lowered its holdings in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 2.3% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 12,534 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 296 shares during the quarter. Private Trust Co. NA’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $678,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Board of the Pension Protection Fund bought a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the 4th quarter valued at $720,000. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 13.8% during the 4th quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 162,799 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $8,811,000 after purchasing an additional 19,782 shares during the last quarter. Golden State Equity Partners grew its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 319.9% during the 4th quarter. Golden State Equity Partners now owns 12,038 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $651,000 after purchasing an additional 9,171 shares during the last quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 81.4% during the 4th quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC now owns 185,920 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $10,062,000 after purchasing an additional 83,429 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Myriad Asset Management US LP bought a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the 4th quarter valued at $995,000. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Williams Companies

In related news, SVP Chad A. Teply sold 26,000 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.46, for a total transaction of $1,467,960.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 133,048 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,511,890.08. This trade represents a 16.35 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Scotiabank reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $51.00 target price on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Friday, January 10th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $46.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $55.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $54.21.

Williams Companies Trading Up 3.5 %

NYSE:WMB opened at $58.25 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $56.53 and a 200-day moving average price of $52.73. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12 month low of $35.38 and a 12 month high of $61.46. The company has a current ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67. The stock has a market cap of $71.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.83, a P/E/G ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 1.04.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The pipeline company reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.47. Williams Companies had a net margin of 21.17% and a return on equity of 15.85%. Equities analysts predict that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This is a boost from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.43%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 109.29%.

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.