Dearborn Partners LLC Invests $1.19 Million in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Dearborn Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm purchased 16,043 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,193,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 67,981,106 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $4,086,344,000 after acquiring an additional 1,296,991 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE increased its position in Williams Companies by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 46,053,873 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $2,768,298,000 after purchasing an additional 2,100,164 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in Williams Companies by 11.0% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 33,572,067 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $2,018,017,000 after purchasing an additional 3,314,851 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its position 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 worth $1,281,875,000 after purchasing an additional 3,748,126 shares during the period. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG boosted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 1.2% during 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 purchasing an additional 239,732 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WMB has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $99.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 18th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Tuesday, July 14th. Wall Street Zen lowered Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 8th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $82.00 price target on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Tuesday, July 14th. 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 currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $85.60.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 13,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.87, for a total value of $973,310.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 268,159 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,077,064.33. This represents a 4.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders sold 17,000 shares of company stock valued at $1,262,930 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Shares of WMB opened at $74.19 on Friday. Williams Companies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $56.08 and a fifty-two week high of $80.07. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $73.44 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $73.33. The stock has a market cap of $90.75 billion, a PE ratio of 29.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.48.

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

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 11th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.8%. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is presently 83.67%.

Williams Companies Company 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.