HM Payson & Co. Sells 1,057 Shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

HM Payson & Co. reduced its position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 13.6% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 6,712 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 1,057 shares during the quarter. HM Payson & Co.’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $306,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in WMB. SouthState Corp purchased a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the second quarter worth about $31,000. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Williams Companies in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Quarry LP bought a new stake in Williams Companies during the 2nd quarter valued at $35,000. Kimelman & Baird LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the second quarter worth $42,000. Finally, Fortitude Family Office LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 120.8% in the third quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 996 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $45,000 after acquiring an additional 545 shares during the period. 86.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently issued reports on WMB. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on Williams Companies from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Williams Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Seaport Res Ptn cut shares of Williams Companies from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, CIBC upped their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $48.62.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

NYSE:WMB opened at $51.56 on Friday. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1-year low of $32.65 and a 1-year high of $52.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 0.45 and a quick ratio of 0.39. The business has a 50 day moving average of $47.90 and a 200 day moving average of $43.77. The company has a market capitalization of $62.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.13, a PEG ratio of 5.87 and a beta of 1.03.

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

Insider Transactions at Williams Companies

In related news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 304,200 shares in the company, valued at $13,777,218. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

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.