Point72 Hong Kong Ltd Makes New Investment in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Point72 Hong Kong Ltd bought a new stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 33,422 shares of the pipeline company's stock, valued at approximately $1,809,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of WMB. Barclays PLC grew its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 3.4% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 3,271,141 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $149,326,000 after purchasing an additional 108,675 shares during the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management increased its position in shares of Williams Companies by 63.5% during the fourth quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 19,758 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $1,069,000 after buying an additional 7,676 shares during the period. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in Williams Companies during the fourth quarter worth $217,000. Pines Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Williams Companies in the fourth quarter valued at $285,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in Williams Companies by 3,490.2% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,600,239 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $86,605,000 after acquiring an additional 1,555,667 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company's stock.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Williams Companies stock traded down $0.29 during trading on Monday, hitting $58.50. The stock had a trading volume of 4,107,148 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,626,919. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $39.88 and a 1 year high of $61.67. The company has a quick ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67. The stock's 50 day moving average is $58.24 and its two-hundred day moving average is $56.93. The stock has a market cap of $71.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 0.66.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.05. Williams Companies had a net margin of 21.17% and a return on equity of 15.85%. The company had revenue of $3.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.90 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.59 EPS. Williams Companies's revenue was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. Williams Companies's payout ratio is presently 106.95%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WMB has been the subject of several research analyst reports. 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 increased their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. CIBC increased their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $63.00 target price on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Friday. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price objective on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. 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 presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $60.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams Companies

In other news, SVP Chad A. Teply sold 26,000 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The shares were 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 directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 8,896 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.50, for a total transaction of $511,520.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 22,339 shares in the company, valued at $1,284,492.50. This trade represents a 28.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 139,583 shares of company stock valued at $7,563,278 in the last quarter. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.