Carillon Tower Advisers, an investment management company, released its “Carillon Eagle Growth & Income Fund” fourth quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. The S&P 500 Index increased by 2.4% in Q4, reaching a 25.0% gain in 2024. The past two years have been the best for the stock market since the 1990s, with AI excitement driving returns and strong earnings growth. The market's on-going multiple expansion—the S&P 500 Index currently has its highest multiple this century, excluding COVID years—accounted for about half of 2024's returns, with the other half coming from robust earnings growth. In addition, you can check the fund’s top 5 holdings to determine its best picks for 2024.

In its fourth quarter 2024 investor letter, Carillon Eagle Growth & Income Fund emphasized stocks such as The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB). The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) is an energy infrastructure company primarily in the United States. The one-month return of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) was 1.02%, and its shares gained 54.68% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On March 17, 2025, The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) stock closed at $58.39 per share with a market capitalization of $71.199 billion.

Carillon Eagle Growth & Income Fund stated the following regarding The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) in its Q4 2024 investor letter:

"The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) performed well because investors expect it to benefit from growing demand for natural gas over the next several years or even decades. Liquid natural gas exports, onshoring, and data center buildouts could place upward pressure on the company’s volumes across its midstream portfolio. We believe that the company’s share price continues to discount this future benefit due to a very challenging overall energy backdrop."

A bird's-eye view of an oil & gas midstream platform in the Gulf of Mexico on a clear day.

The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 73 hedge fund portfolios held The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) at the end of the fourth quarter compared to 37 in the third quarter. While we acknowledge the potential of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter timeframe. If you are looking for an AI stock that is as promising as NVIDIA but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.

In another article, we discussed The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) and shared the list of best infrastructure stocks to buy according to hedge funds. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q4 2024 page for more investor letters from hedge funds and other leading investors.

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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.