Aigen Investment Management LP Acquires Shares of 7,052 The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Aigen Investment Management LP bought a new position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 7,052 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $322,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. SouthState Corp bought a new stake in Williams Companies during the second quarter worth approximately $31,000. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton raised its holdings in Williams Companies by 50.4% during the 3rd quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 752 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 252 shares during the period. Quarry LP bought a new stake in Williams Companies in the second quarter worth $35,000. Finally, Kimelman & Baird LLC purchased a new position in Williams Companies during the second quarter worth $42,000. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WMB has been the subject of several analyst reports. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Williams Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $52.00 to $58.00 in a report on Friday, October 4th. Citigroup boosted their target price on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on Williams Companies from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $51.54.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.29, for a total transaction of $90,580.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 304,200 shares in the company, valued at $13,777,218. The trade was a 0.65 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 7,951 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.30, for a total value of $447,641.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 25,858 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,455,805.40. This trade represents a 23.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Price Performance

NYSE WMB opened at $56.55 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $68.94 billion, a PE ratio of 23.86, a P/E/G ratio of 5.73 and a beta of 1.03. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52-week low of $32.65 and a 52-week high of $57.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a current ratio of 0.57. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $49.69 and its 200-day moving average price is $44.81.

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

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a dividend of $0.475 per share. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is 80.17%.

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.