ClearBridge Investments, an investment management firm, published its “Global Infrastructure Value Strategy” fourth quarter 2021 investor letter – a copy of which can be downloaded here. On an absolute basis, the Strategy delivered gains across six of the nine sectors in which it was invested (out of 11 total) in the fourth quarter, with the electric, rail, and communications sectors the leading contributors and the airports and energy infrastructure sectors the detractors. On a relative basis, measured against the S&P Global Infrastructure Index, the ClearBridge Global Infrastructure Value Strategy outperformed during the fourth quarter. Overall stock selection and sector allocation contributed to relative results. Stock selection in the rail, electric, toll roads, and renewables sectors, underweights to the airport and gas sectors and overweight to the communications and rail sectors aided the most. Spare some time to check the fund’s top 5 holdings to have a clue about their top bets for 2022.
ClearBridge Investments Global Infrastructure Value Strategy, in its Q4 2021 investor letter, mentioned The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) and discussed its stance on the firm. Founded in 1908, The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) is a Tulsa, Oklahoma-based petroleum business company with a $40.9 billion market capitalization, and is currently spearheaded by its CEO, Alan S. Armstrong. The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) delivered a 29.22% return since the beginning of the year, while its 12-month returns are up by 42.04%. The stock closed at $33.65 per share on March 30, 2022.
Here is what ClearBridge Investments Global Infrastructure Value Strategy has to say about The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) in its Q4 2021 investor letter:
“On a regional level, the Strategy’s largest exposure is in the U.S. and Canada (58%) consisting of regulated and contracted utilities (31%) and economically sensitive user-pays infrastructure (27%). During the quarter we initiated new positions in U.S. energy infrastructure company Williams Companies. With supply chain issues, higher housing costs, higher commodity prices and producer price inflation remaining square in the sights for 2022, we think higher inflation is a risk for global markets. We expect growth to slow to trend or below by mid-2022 and U.S. Treasury yields to rise, which will mean a continuation of negative real bond yields. Additional forecast volatility and therefore market uncertainty will arise as new COVID-19 variants appear and circulate. However, with high levels of vaccination across the developed world and less propensity for mobility restrictions and lockdowns, we expect the economic implications to be limited.
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Our calculations show that The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) failed to obtain a mark on our list of the 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) was in 38 hedge fund portfolios at the end of the fourth quarter of 2021, compared to 40 funds in the previous quarter. The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) delivered a 29.22% return in the past 3 months.
In March 2022, we also shared another hedge fund’s views on The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) in another article. You can find other letters from hedge funds and prominent investors on our hedge fund investor letters 2021 Q4 page.
Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
