SG Americas Securities LLC Purchases 3,631,986 Shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its position in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 4,992.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,704,739 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,631,986 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC owned 0.30% of Williams Companies worth $222,692,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WMB. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 15.9% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 48,586,299 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $3,077,942,000 after purchasing an additional 6,668,950 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 14,575,898 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $923,383,000 after purchasing an additional 158,077 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the second quarter worth $765,164,000. BROOKFIELD Corp ON grew its position in Williams Companies by 190.3% during the 2nd quarter. BROOKFIELD Corp ON now owns 12,028,186 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $755,490,000 after purchasing an additional 7,884,730 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi grew its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 5.3% during the third quarter. Amundi now owns 9,600,016 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $610,369,000 after buying an additional 481,082 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Trading Up 1.6%

Shares of NYSE WMB opened at $73.56 on Tuesday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $69.86 and its two-hundred day moving average is $63.72. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1-year low of $51.58 and a 1-year high of $76.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $89.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.38, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83, a current ratio of 0.53 and a quick ratio of 0.48.

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

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be issued a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. 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 2.9%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 98.13%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on WMB shares. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on Williams Companies from $75.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 11th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $70.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $80.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 13th. Tudor Pickering upgraded Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 1st. 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 research report on Friday, February 13th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $76.50.

Insider Activity at Williams Companies

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 27,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.92, for a total value of $1,968,840.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 293,159 shares in the company, valued at $21,377,154.28. This represents a 8.43% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Todd J. Rinke sold 7,364 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.39, for a total transaction of $547,807.96. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 26,055 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,938,231.45. This represents a 22.04% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 51,369 shares of company stock worth $3,769,012. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Williams Companies

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.