Marshall Wace LLP Grows Stock Position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Marshall Wace LLP raised its holdings in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 2,303.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,517,336 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,370,974 shares during the quarter. Marshall Wace LLP owned approximately 0.29% of Williams Companies worth $190,358,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of WMB. Board of the Pension Protection Fund purchased a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the 4th quarter valued at $720,000. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Williams Companies by 13.8% in the 4th quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 162,799 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $8,811,000 after purchasing an additional 19,782 shares in the last quarter. Golden State Equity Partners lifted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 319.9% in the fourth quarter. Golden State Equity Partners now owns 12,038 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $651,000 after buying an additional 9,171 shares in the last quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC increased its stake in Williams Companies by 81.4% in the 4th quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC now owns 185,920 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $10,062,000 after acquiring an additional 83,429 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Myriad Asset Management US LP bought a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $995,000. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Williams Companies

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Chad A. Teply sold 26,000 shares of Williams Companies 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 completion of the sale, 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Micheal G. Dunn sold 96,687 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.04, for a total value of $5,128,278.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 714,693 shares in the company, valued at $37,907,316.72. This represents a 11.92 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 139,583 shares of company stock valued at $7,563,278 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

WMB stock opened at $58.52 on Wednesday. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a one year low of $37.18 and a one year high of $61.67. The firm has a market cap of $71.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.98, a PEG ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 0.87. 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 firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $57.27 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $55.61.

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

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.42%. This is an increase from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is 109.29%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WMB has been the subject of several research reports. 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 research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Scotiabank upped their price target 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. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Williams Companies from $58.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $56.07.

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.