Pacer Advisors Inc. Purchases 89,635 Shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 10.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 912,627 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after buying an additional 89,635 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $41,661,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of WMB. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. grew its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 1.2% during the second quarter. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. now owns 12,670,175 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $538,482,000 after buying an additional 144,713 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 3.3% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,648,918 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $410,064,000 after purchasing an additional 311,530 shares during the last quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. increased its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 8.8% in the second quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 7,664,152 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $325,726,000 after buying an additional 618,056 shares during the period. Blackstone Inc. boosted its position in Williams Companies by 109.1% during the 1st quarter. Blackstone Inc. now owns 6,466,660 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $252,006,000 after buying an additional 3,373,800 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in shares of Williams Companies by 20.1% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 6,117,298 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $259,985,000 after acquiring an additional 1,024,158 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Stock Up 1.9 %

Shares of Williams Companies stock opened at $59.81 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 0.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a twelve month low of $32.65 and a twelve month high of $60.04. The company has a market cap of $72.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.04 and a beta of 1.03. The company’s 50 day moving average is $51.06 and its 200 day moving average is $45.50.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted 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. The company had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.52 billion. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 15.89% and a net margin of 27.36%. Williams Companies’s revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.45 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.91 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.475 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.18%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 80.17%.

Insider Transactions at Williams Companies

In other news, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 7,951 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.30, for a total transaction of $447,641.30. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 25,858 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,455,805.40. This represents a 23.52 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.29, for a total transaction of $90,580.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 304,200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,777,218. This trade represents a 0.65 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently issued reports on WMB shares. Morgan Stanley raised Williams Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $52.00 to $58.00 in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. StockNews.com lowered shares of Williams Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Mizuho increased their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Scotiabank upped their target price on Williams Companies from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Williams Companies has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $51.54.

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.