Trexquant Investment LP Makes New $5.58 Million Investment in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Trexquant Investment LP bought a new stake in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 103,068 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,578,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in WMB. IHT Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Williams Companies by 24.4% in the 3rd quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC now owns 17,701 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $811,000 after acquiring an additional 3,477 shares in the last quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. grew its stake in Williams Companies by 36.3% in the third quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 195,037 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $8,903,000 after purchasing an additional 51,935 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP increased its holdings in Williams Companies by 548.1% during the 3rd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 5,334 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $243,000 after purchasing an additional 4,511 shares during the period. Quantinno Capital Management LP raised its position in Williams Companies by 20.5% during the 3rd quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 105,077 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $4,797,000 after purchasing an additional 17,875 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 19.0% in 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 buying an additional 5,697,605 shares during the period. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on WMB. Barclays raised their price target on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. CIBC raised their target price 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. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $58.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Williams Companies presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $56.07.

Insider Activity at Williams Companies

In other news, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 8,896 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.50, for a total value 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Chad A. Teply sold 26,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.46, for a total value of $1,467,960.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 133,048 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,511,890.08. The trade was 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 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Trading Down 7.5 %

Williams Companies stock opened at $54.61 on Friday. 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 stock has a market cap of $66.59 billion, a PE ratio of 29.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 0.87. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $57.25 and a two-hundred day moving average of $54.95. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a one year low of $37.18 and a one year high of $61.67.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The pipeline company reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.47. Williams Companies had a net margin of 21.17% and a return on equity of 15.85%. On average, research analysts anticipate that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.66%. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is 109.29%.

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.