183,636 Shares in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) Bought by HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC

HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 183,636 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,383,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of WMB. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. increased its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. now owns 12,670,175 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $538,482,000 after acquiring an additional 144,713 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 3.3% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,648,918 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $410,064,000 after purchasing an additional 311,530 shares during the period. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. raised 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 worth $325,726,000 after purchasing an additional 618,056 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 0.9% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,239,210 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $330,470,000 after buying an additional 67,016 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position 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 worth $259,985,000 after purchasing an additional 1,024,158 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.29, for a total transaction of $90,580.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 304,200 shares in the company, valued at $13,777,218. The trade was a 0.65 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 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 transaction of $447,641.30. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 25,858 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,455,805.40. This represents a 23.52 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Shares of WMB stock opened at $56.45 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $68.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.00 and a beta of 1.05. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $52.65 and a 200-day simple moving average of $46.38. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12-month low of $32.65 and a 12-month high of $60.36. The company has a current ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.01. The business 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%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.45 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.92 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a $0.475 dividend. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.37%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 80.17%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. StockNews.com downgraded Williams Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Truist Financial raised their target price on Williams Companies from $42.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Williams Companies from $55.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Bank of America initiated coverage on Williams Companies in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $55.00 target price for the company. 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.

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.