Quarry LP Increases Stock Position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Quarry LP boosted its stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 548.1% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 5,334 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after buying an additional 4,511 shares during the quarter. Quarry LP’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $243,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake 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 worth $259,985,000 after acquiring an additional 1,024,158 shares during the period. Castle Hook Partners LP lifted its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 718,915 shares in the last quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 8.8% during the second quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 7,664,152 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $325,726,000 after buying an additional 618,056 shares during the period. Chickasaw Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 26.8% during 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 period. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 102.2% during the third quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 865,538 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $39,512,000 after buying an additional 437,486 shares during the period. 86.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Williams Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $52.00 to $58.00 in a research note on Friday, October 4th. CIBC increased their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Barclays raised their price target 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. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $52.07.

Williams Companies Trading Up 1.5 %

Williams Companies stock opened at $57.16 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $53.53 and its 200-day moving average is $46.74. 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 Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $32.65 and a 1 year high of $60.36. The company has a market cap of $69.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.12, a PEG ratio of 5.78 and a beta of 1.05.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.52 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 27.36% and a return on equity of 15.89%. Williams Companies’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.45 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.32%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 80.17%.

Insider Activity at Williams Companies

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the firm’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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 304,200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 firm’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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 25,858 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 currently owned by insiders.

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.