Twinbeech Capital LP Acquires 307,011 Shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Twinbeech Capital LP grew its holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 2,432.3% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 319,633 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after buying an additional 307,011 shares during the period. Twinbeech Capital LP’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $17,299,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in WMB. Norges Bank bought a new position in Williams Companies in the fourth quarter worth approximately $575,103,000. Blackstone Inc. raised its position in Williams Companies by 36.5% in the fourth quarter. Blackstone Inc. now owns 18,954,088 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,025,795,000 after acquiring an additional 5,068,738 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP raised its position in Williams Companies by 2,303.2% in the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 3,517,336 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $190,358,000 after acquiring an additional 3,370,974 shares during the period. Castle Hook Partners LP raised its position in Williams Companies by 69.1% in the fourth quarter. Castle Hook Partners LP now owns 5,055,184 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $273,587,000 after acquiring an additional 2,065,906 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi raised its position in shares of Williams Companies by 28.8% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 8,781,963 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $495,215,000 after purchasing an additional 1,964,421 shares during the period. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Larry C. Larsen sold 8,000 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.94, for a total value of $455,520.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 81,265 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,627,229.10. This trade represents a 8.96% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 8,896 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.50, for a total transaction of $511,520.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 22,339 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,284,492.50. This represents a 28.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 139,583 shares of company stock valued at $7,563,278 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE WMB opened at $58.50 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.50. The company has a market cap of $71.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.97, a P/E/G ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 0.66. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $58.28 and its two-hundred day moving average is $56.98. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52-week low of $39.88 and a 52-week high of $61.67.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.05. Williams Companies had a net margin of 21.17% and a return on equity of 15.85%. The business had revenue of $3.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.90 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.59 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.42%. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is currently 106.95%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on WMB. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $58.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, CIBC raised their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Williams Companies currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $60.50.

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.