QRG Capital Management Inc. Has $9.95 Million Position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

QRG Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 5.2% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 183,795 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after buying an additional 9,124 shares during the period. QRG Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $9,947,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in Williams Companies by 19.0% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 35,734,666 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,631,288,000 after purchasing an additional 5,697,605 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 30,722,702 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,398,004,000 after purchasing an additional 520,663 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Williams Companies by 0.9% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,239,210 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $330,470,000 after buying an additional 67,016 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank lifted its holdings in Williams Companies by 0.3% in the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 3,617,300 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $165,130,000 after buying an additional 9,800 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC boosted its position in Williams Companies by 3.4% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 3,271,141 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $149,326,000 after acquiring an additional 108,675 shares during the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Williams Companies Stock Down 1.2 %

WMB stock opened at $56.21 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $68.52 billion, a PE ratio of 30.72, a P/E/G ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 1.05. 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 Williams Companies, Inc. has a twelve month low of $34.90 and a twelve month high of $61.46. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $56.43 and its 200-day moving average is $52.56.

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

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.56%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 109.29%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WMB has been the subject of several research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Citigroup increased their price target on Williams Companies from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $55.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $46.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $54.21.

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.