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 The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 183,636 shares of the pipeline company's stock, valued at approximately $8,383,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of WMB. American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 20.1% during 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 last quarter. Castle Hook Partners LP lifted its holdings in Williams Companies by 31.7% in the third quarter. Castle Hook Partners LP now owns 2,989,278 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $136,461,000 after acquiring an additional 718,915 shares during the last quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 8.8% in the 2nd quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 7,664,152 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $325,726,000 after purchasing an additional 618,056 shares during the last quarter. Chickasaw Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Williams Companies by 26.8% in the third quarter. Chickasaw Capital Management LLC now owns 2,097,941 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $95,771,000 after buying an additional 443,423 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its stake in Williams Companies by 102.2% during the third quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 865,538 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $39,512,000 after buying an additional 437,486 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WMB has been the subject of several research reports. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. 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 price target for the company. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $55.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, CIBC upped their price objective on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. One investment 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's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $52.07.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Shares of WMB stock traded up $0.13 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $56.58. The company had a trading volume of 6,948,147 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,300,237. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52-week low of $32.65 and a 52-week high of $60.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 0.57 and a quick ratio of 0.51. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $52.65 and its 200 day simple moving average is $46.38. The stock has a market cap of $68.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.89, a PEG ratio of 5.79 and a beta of 1.05.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.52 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.45 EPS. Williams Companies's quarterly revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The company 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 $0.475 dividend. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Williams Companies's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 80.17%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Williams Companies news, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 7,951 shares of the 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 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.29, for a total value of $90,580.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 304,200 shares of the company's stock, valued at $13,777,218. This trade represents a 0.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.