Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB Shares Acquired by Cohen & Steers Inc.

Cohen & Steers Inc. increased its position in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 13.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 6,428,129 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after acquiring an additional 757,958 shares during the quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc.’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $386,395,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 133,963,343 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $8,052,537,000 after acquiring an additional 883,245 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of Williams Companies by 15.9% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 48,586,299 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $3,077,942,000 after purchasing an additional 6,668,950 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its stake in Williams Companies by 21.3% in the 4th quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 21,325,482 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,281,875,000 after buying an additional 3,748,126 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG grew its stake in Williams Companies by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 20,036,698 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,204,406,000 after buying an additional 239,732 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in Williams Companies by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 14,575,898 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $923,383,000 after buying an additional 158,077 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of NYSE WMB opened at $71.92 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $87.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.54, a P/E/G ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 0.58. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $73.44 and a 200 day moving average price of $68.85. 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 52-week low of $55.82 and a 52-week high of $80.07.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $3.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.28 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 23.39% and a return on equity of 18.34%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.60 earnings per share. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. Analysts expect that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.44 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity at Williams Companies

In other news, CFO John Dean Porter sold 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.37, for a total value of $3,768,500.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 196,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,815,254.79. The trade was a 20.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Larry C. Larsen sold 12,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.48, for a total transaction of $917,760.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 98,219 shares in the company, valued at $7,511,789.12. This trade represents a 10.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders sold 68,500 shares of company stock worth $5,177,835. Corporate insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have issued reports on WMB shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $80.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Williams Companies from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $82.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, April 20th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $81.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to 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.