Morton Community Bank Has $3.99 Million Stock Position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Morton Community Bank increased its holdings in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 93,900 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,967 shares during the quarter. Williams Companies makes up 1.1% of Morton Community Bank’s portfolio, making the stock its 23rd biggest position. Morton Community Bank’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $3,991,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WMB. Fisher Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the fourth quarter worth about $322,000. Principal Securities Inc. bought a new position in Williams Companies in the fourth quarter valued at $1,197,000. Teacher Retirement System of Texas increased its stake in Williams Companies by 36.1% in the 4th quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 147,923 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $5,152,000 after buying an additional 39,215 shares during the last quarter. Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. lifted its position in Williams Companies by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. now owns 8,868 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $304,000 after buying an additional 455 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Qsemble Capital Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the 4th quarter worth about $758,000. 86.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Williams Companies from $44.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 10th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $41.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 19th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Williams Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $38.00 to $46.00 in a research note on Tuesday, June 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Williams Companies presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $42.83.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

NYSE:WMB traded down $0.57 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $44.26. 4,602,869 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,411,479. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $32.49 and a fifty-two week high of $45.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a current ratio of 0.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $53.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.11 and a beta of 1.05. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $43.56 and its 200 day simple moving average is $40.68.

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. The company had revenue of $2.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.46 billion. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 16.17% and a net margin of 27.11%. Williams Companies’s quarterly revenue was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.42 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be given a $0.475 dividend. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is presently 79.83%.

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.