The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) is Fractal Investments LLC’s 8th Largest Position

Fractal Investments LLC lifted its position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 27.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 531,500 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after buying an additional 115,000 shares during the quarter. Williams Companies comprises 4.4% of Fractal Investments LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest holding. Fractal Investments LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $28,765,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. AlphaMark Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Financial Life Planners acquired a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton increased its position in Williams Companies by 50.4% during the third quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 752 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 252 shares during the period. Finally, FSA Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Williams Companies during the 3rd quarter valued at $38,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Price Performance

WMB opened at $56.86 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $56.00 and a 200 day simple moving average of $51.08. The stock has a market cap of $69.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.99, a P/E/G ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a quick ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 0.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12 month low of $32.65 and a 12 month high of $61.46.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.52 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 27.36% and a return on equity of 15.89%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.45 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.91 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is an increase from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.52%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is 80.17%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Williams Companies news, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 7,951 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The shares were 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 directly owns 25,858 shares in the company, valued at $1,455,805.40. The trade was a 23.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.44% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on WMB. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Mizuho raised their target price on Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Barclays increased their price target on Williams Companies from $46.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $53.00.

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.