Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV Reduces Stock Position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV reduced its stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 8.1% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 114,127 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 10,007 shares during the period. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $4,850,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in Williams Companies by 84.8% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 23,912 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,016,000 after purchasing an additional 10,976 shares during the period. Neville Rodie & Shaw Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the second quarter valued at about $202,000. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 56.3% during the 1st quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,446 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $134,000 after purchasing an additional 1,241 shares during the period. NBW Capital LLC increased its holdings in Williams Companies by 3.4% in the 1st quarter. NBW Capital LLC now owns 270,546 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $10,543,000 after purchasing an additional 8,775 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 189.4% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 199,351 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $7,769,000 after buying an additional 130,477 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on WMB shares. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, June 10th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, July 12th. US Capital Advisors downgraded Williams Companies from an “overweight” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Williams Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $38.00 to $46.00 in a research note on Tuesday, June 4th. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $43.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $42.08.

Williams Companies Trading Down 2.3 %

Shares of NYSE:WMB traded down $0.96 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $41.24. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 7,727,528 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,597,200. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $42.18 and a 200 day moving average price of $38.96. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $32.49 and a 1 year high of $45.10. The firm has a market cap of $50.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.62 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a quick ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released 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 net margin of 27.29% and a return on equity of 16.27%. The business had revenue of $2.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.46 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.42 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.85 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.61%. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is 79.83%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Debbie L. Pickle sold 38,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.61, for a total transaction of $1,513,102.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 60,410 shares in the company, valued at $2,392,840.10. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by 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.