Renaissance Technologies LLC Purchases 56,000 Shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its position in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 5.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,016,985 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after acquiring an additional 56,000 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC owned 0.08% of Williams Companies worth $43,222,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its position in shares of Williams Companies by 5.9% during the 1st quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 20,983,727 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $817,736,000 after purchasing an additional 1,175,628 shares in the last quarter. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. grew its position in Williams Companies by 1.2% during the second quarter. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. now owns 12,670,175 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $538,482,000 after buying an additional 144,713 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Williams Companies by 21.3% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 11,593,482 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $403,801,000 after acquiring an additional 2,039,703 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 3.3% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,648,918 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $410,064,000 after acquiring an additional 311,530 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the 4th quarter valued at about $306,417,000. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 10th. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded shares of Williams Companies from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Barclays increased their target price on Williams Companies from $41.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 19th. Argus upgraded Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 20th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Williams Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $38.00 to $46.00 in a report on Tuesday, June 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Williams Companies has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $43.50.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

NYSE:WMB opened at $45.18 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a current ratio of 0.45. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $32.49 and a fifty-two week high of $45.82. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $43.96 and a 200-day moving average price of $41.23. The firm has a market cap of $55.06 billion, a PE ratio of 18.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.24 and a beta of 1.05.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $2.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.46 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 27.11% and a return on equity of 16.17%. The company’s revenue was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.42 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be given a dividend of $0.475 per share. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is 79.83%.

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.