Hartford Financial Management Inc. Lowers Stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Hartford Financial Management Inc. lessened its position in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 16.4% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 42,368 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 8,296 shares during the quarter. Hartford Financial Management Inc.’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $1,934,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. SouthState Corp purchased a new stake in Williams Companies during the second quarter valued at about $31,000. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton grew its position in Williams Companies by 50.4% during the third quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 752 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 252 shares during the period. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the second quarter worth about $34,000. Quarry LP acquired a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the second quarter worth about $35,000. Finally, Fortitude Family Office LLC lifted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 120.8% during the third quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 996 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 545 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have commented on WMB shares. StockNews.com cut Williams Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Williams Companies from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Williams Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $52.00 to $58.00 in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Seaport Res Ptn cut Williams Companies from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on Williams Companies from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $48.62.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams Companies

In other news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.29, for a total transaction of $90,580.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 304,200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,777,218. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Williams Companies Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE WMB opened at $52.38 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $47.78 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $43.67. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52-week low of $32.65 and a 52-week high of $52.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $63.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.48, a PEG ratio of 5.88 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a quick ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.05. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 16.17% and a net margin of 27.11%. The firm had revenue of $2.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.46 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.42 earnings per share. Williams Companies’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.