Summit Global Investments Makes New Investment in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Summit Global Investments purchased a new position in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 13,501 shares of the pipeline company's stock, valued at approximately $731,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of WMB. Quent Capital LLC purchased a new position in Williams Companies during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Bank of Jackson Hole Trust acquired a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. AlphaMark Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Sandy Spring Bank acquired a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Finally, Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in Williams Companies during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,000. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Micheal G. Dunn sold 96,687 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.04, for a total transaction of $5,128,278.48. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 714,693 shares of the company's stock, valued at $37,907,316.72. This trade represents a 11.92 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Larry C. Larsen sold 8,000 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.94, for a total transaction of $455,520.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 81,265 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,627,229.10. This trade represents a 8.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 139,583 shares of company stock valued at $7,563,278 over the last quarter. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on WMB. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. CIBC lifted their price objective on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $58.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $56.07.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Shares of Williams Companies stock traded down $0.30 on Tuesday, hitting $60.79. The stock had a trading volume of 3,516,478 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,181,012. The stock has a market cap of $74.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.23, a P/E/G ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a current ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52-week low of $37.18 and a 52-week high of $61.55. The company's 50 day moving average price is $57.20 and its 200 day moving average price is $54.17.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The pipeline company reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.47. Williams Companies had a net margin of 21.17% and a return on equity of 15.85%. On average, research analysts anticipate that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This is an increase from Williams Companies's previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.29%. Williams Companies's dividend payout ratio is 109.29%.

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.