Voleon Capital Management LP Acquires New Shares in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Voleon Capital Management LP bought a new position in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 67,036 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,628,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft now owns 5,568 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $300,000 after buying an additional 180 shares in the last quarter. Albion Financial Group UT lifted its stake in Williams Companies by 18.4% in the 4th quarter. Albion Financial Group UT now owns 1,184 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $64,000 after acquiring an additional 184 shares in the last quarter. Sprinkle Financial Consultants LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Sprinkle Financial Consultants LLC now owns 5,073 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $275,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares during the period. AMG National Trust Bank grew its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. AMG National Trust Bank now owns 30,813 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,669,000 after acquiring an additional 186 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tower Wealth Partners Inc. increased its position in Williams Companies by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. Tower Wealth Partners Inc. now owns 4,591 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $248,000 after purchasing an additional 191 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on WMB shares. Barclays boosted 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. CIBC raised their target price on 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 raised their target price on Williams Companies from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Citigroup increased their price objective on Williams Companies from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Williams Companies from $58.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $57.77.

Insider Activity at Williams Companies

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Chad A. Teply sold 26,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 133,048 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,511,890.08. This represents a 16.35 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Micheal G. Dunn sold 96,687 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $37,907,316.72. This represents a 11.92 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 139,583 shares of company stock valued at $7,563,278. Company insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Trading Up 0.0 %

Shares of WMB stock opened at $59.67 on Wednesday. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52-week low of $37.69 and a 52-week high of $61.67. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $57.64 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $56.31. The company has a market capitalization of $72.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.61, 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.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The pipeline company reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.47. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 15.85% and a net margin of 21.17%. Research analysts anticipate that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.35%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 109.29%.

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.