Eventide Asset Management LLC Raises Stock Holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Eventide Asset Management LLC increased its position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 919,973 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after buying an additional 36,623 shares during the quarter. Eventide Asset Management LLC owned 0.08% of Williams Companies worth $41,997,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in 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 in the last quarter. Castle Hook Partners LP boosted 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 in the last quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. boosted its holdings in Williams Companies by 8.8% in the second quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 7,664,152 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $325,726,000 after acquiring an additional 618,056 shares in the last quarter. Chickasaw Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 443,423 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its holdings in Williams Companies by 102.2% in the third quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 865,538 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $39,512,000 after acquiring an additional 437,486 shares in the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.29, for a total transaction of $90,580.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 304,200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,777,218. This represents a 0.65 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 7,951 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The shares were 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. The trade was a 23.52 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.44% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WMB has been the topic of a number of research reports. UBS Group boosted their target price 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 boosted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Barclays boosted 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. One investment 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’s 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 Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:WMB opened at $58.14 on Friday. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $32.65 and a fifty-two week high of $60.36. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $52.38 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $46.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a current ratio of 0.57. The firm has a market cap of $70.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.96 and a beta of 1.03.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.01. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 15.89% and a net margin of 27.36%. The business had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.52 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.45 EPS. Williams Companies’s revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.92 earnings per share 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 given a $0.475 dividend. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 80.17%.

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.