Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd Raises Stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 6,398 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after buying an additional 258 shares during the period. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $292,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 153,081 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $6,988,000 after purchasing an additional 6,199 shares during the last quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP lifted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 1.7% during the third quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 191,787 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $8,755,000 after purchasing an additional 3,254 shares during the period. Larson Financial Group LLC grew its position in Williams Companies by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 60,626 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $2,768,000 after buying an additional 2,541 shares during the last quarter. Sompo Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in Williams Companies by 10.1% in the 3rd quarter. Sompo Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 16,630 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $759,000 after buying an additional 1,530 shares during the period. Finally, Palisade Asset Management LLC raised its position in Williams Companies by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. Palisade Asset Management LLC now owns 13,571 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $620,000 after buying an additional 587 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of WMB opened at $58.36 on Wednesday. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $32.65 and a fifty-two week high of $60.36. The company has a market capitalization of $71.14 billion, a PE ratio of 24.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.99 and a beta of 1.03. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $51.86 and a two-hundred day moving average of $46.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a current ratio of 0.57.

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

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.475 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.26%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 80.17%.

Insider Transactions at Williams Companies

In other news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.29, for a total value 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 sale 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 company’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 sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 25,858 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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. Insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WMB has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. CIBC raised their price target on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Scotiabank upped their price objective on Williams Companies from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Seaport Res Ptn lowered shares of Williams Companies from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Williams Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Williams Companies currently has a consensus 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.