D.B. Root & Company LLC Takes Position in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

D.B. Root & Company LLC acquired a new position in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm acquired 17,956 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,335,000.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Williams Companies by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 133,963,343 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $8,052,537,000 after buying an additional 883,245 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 67,981,106 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $4,086,344,000 after acquiring an additional 1,296,991 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its stake in Williams Companies by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 46,053,873 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $2,768,298,000 after purchasing an additional 2,100,164 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in Williams Companies by 11.0% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 33,572,067 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $2,018,017,000 after buying an additional 3,314,851 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 3,748,126 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Shares of WMB opened at $70.71 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $86.49 billion, a PE ratio of 28.17, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.59. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $56.08 and a 1 year high of $80.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83, a current ratio of 0.48 and a quick ratio of 0.43. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $73.38 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $73.18.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued its earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The pipeline company reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50. The firm had revenue of $3.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.83 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 25.17% and a return on equity of 18.49%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.46 earnings per share. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.350-2.350 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.45 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 11th will be paid a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 11th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.0%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 83.67%.

More Williams Companies News

Here are the key news stories impacting Williams Companies this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley raised its price target for Williams Companies to $103, signaling substantial potential upside from recent trading levels and providing a constructive counterpoint to the earnings estimate cuts. Morgan Stanley Increases Williams Companies Price Target to $103
• Neutral Sentiment: The company’s latest reported quarter was solid: Williams earned $0.50 per share, matching consensus, while revenue of $3.05 billion exceeded expectations and increased 9.8% year over year. Its fee-based pipeline operations provide relatively stable cash flows.
• Negative Sentiment: US Capital Advisors lowered its EPS forecasts across several periods, including fourth-quarter 2026 EPS to $0.57 from $0.60, first-quarter 2027 EPS to $0.55 from $0.59, second-quarter 2027 EPS to $0.40 from $0.48, and third-quarter 2027 EPS to $0.50 from $0.55.
• Negative Sentiment: The firm also reduced its full-year 2027 EPS estimate to $2.07 from $2.28 and its 2028 forecast to $2.67 from $2.86. These revisions suggest analysts see weaker near- to medium-term earnings growth than previously expected and are likely the main reason the stock has decreased.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $82.00 target price on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $99.00 to $103.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 18th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Williams Companies from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $89.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Williams Companies presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $85.60.

Insider Activity at Williams Companies

In related news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 13,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.87, for a total transaction of $973,310.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 268,159 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,077,064.33. The trade was a 4.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders have sold 17,000 shares of company stock valued at $1,262,930 in the last three months. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.