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

Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 5.8% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 1,016,985 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after buying an additional 56,000 shares during the quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $43,222,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of WMB. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Williams Companies during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $306,417,000. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 15.7% during the first quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 108,302 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $4,221,000 after purchasing an additional 14,672 shares in the last quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S grew its stake in Williams Companies by 145.5% in the first quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 95,359 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $3,716,000 after purchasing an additional 56,509 shares during the period. Eagle Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Williams Companies by 24.5% in the fourth quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,636,222 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $91,820,000 after purchasing an additional 518,009 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Chickasaw Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 3.5% during the 1st quarter. Chickasaw Capital Management LLC now owns 1,644,620 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $64,091,000 after buying an additional 56,013 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Price 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 company has a market capitalization of $55.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.98, a PEG ratio of 6.24 and a beta of 1.05. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $43.96 and a 200 day moving average of $41.23. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a one year low of $32.49 and a one year high of $45.82.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.05. Williams Companies had a net margin of 27.11% and a return on equity of 16.17%. The firm had revenue of $2.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.46 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.42 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.93 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be paid a $0.475 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.21%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 79.83%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently issued reports on WMB shares. StockNews.com lowered shares of Williams Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Argus raised shares of Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 20th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 10th. Barclays raised their price objective on Williams Companies from $41.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 19th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Williams Companies from $44.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Williams Companies presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $43.50.

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.