What’s a smart Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) investor to do?
In the financial world, there are dozens of methods market participants can use to analyze the equity markets. A couple of the most under-the-radar are hedge fund and insider trading movement. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the top hedge fund managers can outpace their index-focused peers by a superb amount (see just how much).
Equally as necessary, bullish insider trading sentiment is a second way to look at the financial markets. Obviously, there are many reasons for an insider to sell shares of his or her company, but just one, very obvious reason why they would initiate a purchase. Several empirical studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this tactic if piggybackers know where to look (learn more here).
Keeping this in mind, it’s important to analyze the latest info for Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB).
What have hedge funds been doing with Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)?
At Q2’s end, a total of 44 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of 7% from one quarter earlier. With the smart money’s capital changing hands, there exists a select group of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were boosting their holdings considerably.
When using filings from the hedgies we track, Corvex Capital, managed by Keith Meister, holds the most valuable position in Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB). Corvex Capital has a $394.6 million position in the stock, comprising 7.4% of its 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Jeffrey Tannenbaum of Fir Tree, with a $361.4 million position; the fund has 5% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Some other hedge funds that are bullish include Doug Silverman and Alexander Klabin’s Senator Investment Group, Jason Capello’s Merchants’ Gate Capital and Matthew Knauer and Mina Faltas’s Nokota Management.
Now, certain bigger names were breaking ground themselves. Corvex Capital, managed by Keith Meister, assembled the biggest position in Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB). Corvex Capital had 394.6 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Jeffrey Tannenbaum’s Fir Tree also made a $361.4 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are Doug Silverman and Alexander Klabin’s Senator Investment Group, Jason Capello’s Merchants’ Gate Capital, and Matthew Knauer and Mina Faltas’s Nokota Management.
What do corporate executives and insiders think about Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)?
Insider buying made by high-level executives is best served when the company we’re looking at has experienced transactions within the past 180 days. Over the latest six-month time period, Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) has experienced 1 unique insiders buying, and 7 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
We’ll go over the relationship between both of these indicators in other stocks similar to Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB). These stocks are Energy Transfer Equity, L.P. (NYSE:ETE), Enbridge Inc (USA) (NYSE:ENB), Plains All American Pipeline, L.P. (NYSE:PAA), Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP (NYSE:KMP), and Spectra Energy Corp. (NYSE:SE). This group of stocks are the members of the oil & gas pipelines industry and their market caps are closest to WMB’s market cap.
| Company Name | # of Hedge Funds | # of Insiders Buying | # of Insiders Selling |
| Energy Transfer Equity, L.P. (NYSE:ETE) | 15 | 2 | 0 |
| Enbridge Inc (USA) (NYSE:ENB) | 18 | 0 | 0 |
| Plains All American Pipeline, L.P. (NYSE:PAA) | 10 | 0 | 4 |
| Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP (NYSE:KMP) | 14 | 0 | 1 |
| Spectra Energy Corp. (NYSE:SE) | 22 | 0 | 5 |
Using the results shown by Insider Monkey’s research, average investors must always track hedge fund and insider trading activity, and Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) is an important part of this process.
