Geneos Wealth Management Inc. Sells 1,593 Shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Geneos Wealth Management Inc. decreased its stake in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 6.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 24,611 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 1,593 shares during the period. Geneos Wealth Management Inc.’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $1,332,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Board of the Pension Protection Fund bought a new stake in Williams Companies during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $720,000. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 17.0% in the 4th quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 75,278 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $4,074,000 after purchasing an additional 10,950 shares during the period. Brendel Financial Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 0.8% during the third quarter. Brendel Financial Advisors LLC now owns 51,927 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $2,370,000 after purchasing an additional 419 shares in the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Williams Companies in the third quarter worth $545,000. Finally, Swiss National Bank raised its holdings in Williams Companies by 0.3% in the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 3,617,300 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $165,130,000 after purchasing an additional 9,800 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Williams Companies

In other news, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 7,951 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.30, for a total transaction of $447,641.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 25,858 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,455,805.40. The trade was a 23.52 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Stock Up 0.3 %

WMB opened at $59.64 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $72.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.17, a PEG ratio of 5.31 and a beta of 1.06. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $56.47 and a 200-day moving average price of $50.36. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a twelve month low of $32.65 and a twelve month high of $61.46. The company has a quick ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 0.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.01. Williams Companies had a net margin of 27.36% and a return on equity of 15.89%. The business had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.52 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.45 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th were given a dividend of $0.475 per share. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.19%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is currently 80.17%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WMB has been the topic of a number of research reports. Bank of America began coverage on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $55.00 target price on the stock. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Morgan Stanley raised Williams Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $52.00 to $58.00 in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, CIBC boosted their target price on 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, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Williams Companies has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $53.00.

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.