USS Investment Management Ltd Raises Position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

USS Investment Management Ltd boosted its position in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 2.4% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 239,494 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after buying an additional 5,686 shares during the period. USS Investment Management Ltd’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $12,963,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the fourth quarter worth approximately $575,103,000. Blackstone Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 36.5% during the fourth quarter. Blackstone Inc. now owns 18,954,088 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,025,795,000 after buying an additional 5,068,738 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP raised its position in shares of 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 valued at $190,358,000 after buying an additional 3,370,974 shares during the last quarter. Castle Hook Partners LP lifted its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 2,065,906 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi boosted its position in Williams Companies by 28.8% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 8,781,963 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $495,215,000 after acquiring an additional 1,964,421 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of NYSE:WMB opened at $58.75 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $71.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.10, a PEG ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 0.66. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12-month low of $39.88 and a 12-month high of $61.67. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $58.34 and a 200 day moving average price of $57.00. The company has a current ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $3.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.90 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 21.17% and a return on equity of 15.85%. Williams Companies’s revenue was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.59 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.40%. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is currently 106.95%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams Companies

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Larry C. Larsen sold 8,000 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was 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. The trade was a 8.96% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Chad A. Teply sold 26,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.46, for a total transaction of $1,467,960.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 133,048 shares in the company, valued at $7,511,890.08. This trade represents a 16.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 139,583 shares of company stock valued at $7,563,278 over the last quarter. 0.44% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on WMB. CIBC increased their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Williams Companies from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Citigroup upped their target price on Williams Companies from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $63.00 price target on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Friday, May 16th. Finally, Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $60.50.

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.