Clearbridge Investments LLC Boosts Holdings in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its holdings in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 21.3% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 21,325,482 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,748,126 shares during the period. Williams Companies makes up approximately 1.0% of Clearbridge Investments LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest position. Clearbridge Investments LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $1,281,875,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH acquired a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the 4th quarter valued at about $4,627,000. Gabelli Funds LLC lifted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 7.4% in the 4th quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 261,000 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $15,689,000 after purchasing an additional 17,900 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 21.0% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,105,570 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $125,839,000 after purchasing an additional 365,546 shares in the last quarter. Stephens Inc. AR lifted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 8.9% in the 4th quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 164,900 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $9,912,000 after purchasing an additional 13,438 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alps Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 457,543 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $28,985,000 after purchasing an additional 17,974 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Williams Companies stock opened at $72.00 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $73.55 and its 200 day moving average price is $68.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $87.95 billion, a PE ratio of 31.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.83. Williams Companies, Inc. has a one year low of $55.82 and a one year high of $80.07.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.73 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $3.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.28 billion. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 18.34% and a net margin of 23.39%.Williams Companies’s revenue for the quarter was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.60 EPS. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 29th. Investors of record on Friday, June 12th will be given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 12th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is 92.11%.

Insider Activity

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Glen G. Jasek sold 2,500 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.15, for a total transaction of $195,375.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 54,101 shares in the company, valued at $4,227,993.15. The trade was a 4.42% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Todd J. Rinke sold 7,364 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.39, for a total value of $547,807.96. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 26,055 shares in the company, valued at $1,938,231.45. This represents a 22.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 78,762 shares of company stock worth $5,937,632 in the last ninety days. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on WMB shares. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on Williams Companies from $82.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Wolfe Research raised Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Wall Street Zen raised Williams Companies from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, April 5th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Williams Companies from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on Williams Companies from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 10th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $82.40.

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.