R Squared Ltd Purchases New Stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor acquired 2,350 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $127,000.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WMB. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in Williams Companies by 19.0% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 35,734,666 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,631,288,000 after purchasing an additional 5,697,605 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in Williams Companies by 3,490.2% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,600,239 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $86,605,000 after buying an additional 1,555,667 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI grew its position in Williams Companies by 224.1% during the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 1,334,307 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $60,909,000 after buying an additional 922,550 shares in the last quarter. Castle Hook Partners LP increased its stake in Williams Companies by 31.7% in the 3rd quarter. Castle Hook Partners LP now owns 2,989,278 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $136,461,000 after acquiring an additional 718,915 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 30,722,702 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,398,004,000 after acquiring an additional 520,663 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Shares of WMB opened at $55.37 on Thursday. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $32.65 and a fifty-two week high of $61.46. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $56.34 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $50.58. The stock has a market cap of $67.50 billion, a PE ratio of 23.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.31 and a beta of 1.06. 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 earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 EPS 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 last year, the company earned $0.45 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This is a boost from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.61%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 80.17%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WMB has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Scotiabank reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $51.00 price objective on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Friday, January 10th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Williams Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $52.00 to $58.00 in a report on Friday, October 4th. Mizuho increased their target price on Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. 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 MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $53.00.

Insider Activity at Williams Companies

In other news, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 7,951 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.30, for a total transaction of $447,641.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.44% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Williams Companies Company 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.