Intact Investment Management Inc. Increases Holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Intact Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 7.9% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 104,600 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after buying an additional 7,700 shares during the quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $4,775,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its position in shares of Williams Companies by 5.9% in the first 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 shares of Williams Companies by 1.2% in the second quarter. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. now owns 12,670,175 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $538,482,000 after purchasing an additional 144,713 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Williams Companies by 3.3% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,648,918 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $410,064,000 after buying an additional 311,530 shares in the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP grew its position in Williams Companies by 13.4% during the first quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP now owns 8,540,611 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $332,828,000 after buying an additional 1,010,658 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bahl & Gaynor Inc. grew its position in Williams Companies by 8.8% during the second quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 7,664,152 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $325,726,000 after buying an additional 618,056 shares in the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.29, for a total value of $90,580.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 304,200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,777,218. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WMB has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group boosted their target price on Williams Companies from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Bank of America started coverage on Williams Companies in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $55.00 target price for the company. Citigroup upped their price target on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Mizuho increased their target price on Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Scotiabank increased their target price on Williams Companies from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $49.62.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Shares of WMB opened at $52.14 on Tuesday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $48.04 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $43.96. The company has a current ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12 month low of $32.65 and a 12 month high of $52.85. The company has a market cap of $63.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.38, a P/E/G ratio of 5.78 and a beta of 1.03.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released its quarterly earnings results 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. The firm had revenue of $2.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.46 billion. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 16.17% and a net margin of 27.11%. The company’s revenue was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.42 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.