HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC Invests $8.38 Million in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 183,636 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,383,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 6.0% in the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 2,063,435 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $94,232,000 after purchasing an additional 117,113 shares during the last quarter. Hilltop Holdings Inc. boosted its stake in Williams Companies by 61.1% in the 3rd quarter. Hilltop Holdings Inc. now owns 28,956 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,322,000 after purchasing an additional 10,985 shares during the period. Benjamin Edwards Inc. raised its holdings in Williams Companies by 1,546.0% during the 3rd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 106,098 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $4,843,000 after buying an additional 99,652 shares during the period. Aureus Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 6.6% during the 3rd quarter. Aureus Asset Management LLC now owns 120,819 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $5,515,000 after acquiring an additional 7,533 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Williams Companies during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,000,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

WMB has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays boosted their target price on Williams Companies from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Bank of America assumed coverage on Williams Companies in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $55.00 price target for the company. Scotiabank boosted their target price on Williams Companies from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Citigroup upped their target price on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Williams Companies currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $51.79.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Shares of WMB stock opened at $56.45 on Tuesday. 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 business has a 50 day moving average of $52.65 and a two-hundred day moving average of $46.38. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52 week low of $32.65 and a 52 week high of $60.36. The company has a market cap of $68.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.82, a PEG ratio of 6.00 and a beta of 1.05.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $2.65 billion during 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 quarterly revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.45 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.92 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 3.37%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 80.17%.

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.