Edgestream Partners L.P. Acquires 26,337 Shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Edgestream Partners L.P. raised its stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 41.5% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 89,757 shares of the pipeline company's stock after buying an additional 26,337 shares during the period. Edgestream Partners L.P.'s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $4,097,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Williams Companies by 84.8% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 23,912 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $1,016,000 after purchasing an additional 10,976 shares during the last quarter. Beese Fulmer Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Williams Companies by 16.5% in the second quarter. Beese Fulmer Investment Management Inc. now owns 12,900 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $548,000 after buying an additional 1,825 shares in the last quarter. DNB Asset Management AS boosted its stake in Williams Companies by 0.8% in the second quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 217,662 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $9,251,000 after buying an additional 1,753 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 20.7% during the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 3,448 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $147,000 after acquiring an additional 591 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank & Trust Co bought a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $794,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. CIBC increased their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Scotiabank increased their target price on Williams Companies from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Mizuho lifted their price target on Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Bank of America assumed coverage on Williams Companies in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They set a "buy" rating and a $55.00 price objective for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $51.79.

Williams Companies Trading Up 0.7 %

WMB stock traded up $0.38 during trading on Friday, reaching $58.52. The company had a trading volume of 3,638,531 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,555,747. 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 Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52 week low of $32.65 and a 52 week high of $60.36. The business has a 50 day moving average of $52.65 and a 200 day moving average of $46.38. The company has a market cap of $71.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.69, a PEG ratio of 6.00 and a beta of 1.03.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last released 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 analysts' expectations of $2.52 billion. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 15.89% and a net margin of 27.36%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.45 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a $0.475 dividend. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.25%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Williams Companies's dividend payout ratio is presently 80.17%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 7,951 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.30, for a total value of $447,641.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 25,858 shares in the company, valued at $1,455,805.40. This trade represents a 23.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.44% of the stock is 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.