Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB Shares Purchased by Heritage Wealth Advisors

Heritage Wealth Advisors increased its stake in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 2.0% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 435,083 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,574 shares during the period. Williams Companies makes up approximately 1.2% of Heritage Wealth Advisors’ investment portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest position. Heritage Wealth Advisors’ holdings in Williams Companies were worth $27,563,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Williams Companies during the second quarter worth $765,164,000. BROOKFIELD Corp ON boosted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 190.3% during the second quarter. BROOKFIELD Corp ON now owns 12,028,186 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $755,490,000 after buying an additional 7,884,730 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 27.3% in the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 14,417,821 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $905,583,000 after buying an additional 3,089,390 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 30.4% in the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,073,602 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $574,856,000 after buying an additional 2,116,526 shares during the period. Finally, Artisan Partners Limited Partnership raised its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 39.0% in the 2nd quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 6,954,733 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $436,827,000 after buying an additional 1,950,485 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on WMB. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on Williams Companies from $78.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $69.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Scotiabank upgraded shares of Williams Companies from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $66.00 to $84.00 in a report on Friday, February 13th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $75.86.

Insider Transactions at Williams Companies

In related news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 27,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.92, for a total transaction of $1,968,840.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 293,159 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,377,154.28. This represents a 8.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 10,107 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.91, for a total transaction of $757,115.37. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 17,230 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,290,699.30. This trade represents a 36.97% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 43,107 shares of company stock valued at $3,133,015. Corporate insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Trading Down 0.8%

NYSE:WMB opened at $74.16 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $90.59 billion, a PE ratio of 34.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.63. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $66.94 and a 200 day moving average price of $62.44. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12-month low of $51.58 and a 12-month high of $76.87. The company has a current ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 10th. The pipeline company reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.57 by ($0.02). Williams Companies had a return on equity of 17.32% and a net margin of 21.90%.The company had revenue of $3.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.10 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.47 earnings per share. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This is a boost from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 93.46%.

Williams Companies Profile

Williams Companies, Inc (NYSE: WMB) is a U.S.-based energy infrastructure company focused on the midstream segment of the natural gas value chain. The company develops, owns and operates assets that gather, process, transport and store natural gas and natural gas liquids (NGLs). Its operations support the movement of gas from production areas to end users including utilities, power generators, industrial customers and export facilities.

Williams’s product and service offering includes interstate and intrastate pipeline transmission, gas-gathering systems, processing facilities that remove impurities and separate NGLs, storage services and fractionation and transportation of NGL products.