Rakuten Investment Management Inc. Invests $15.01 Million in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Rakuten Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 200,027 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,014,000.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in WMB. Main Street Group LTD bought a new stake in Williams Companies during the 1st quarter worth approximately $26,000. Motiv8 Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Allied Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the second quarter worth $28,000. Bayforest Capital Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the second quarter worth $28,000. Finally, Clearstead Trust LLC grew its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 62.2% in the fourth quarter. Clearstead Trust LLC now owns 485 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 186 shares during the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 13,000 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 268,159 shares in the company, 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 document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders sold 17,000 shares of company stock valued at $1,262,930 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Price Performance

WMB stock opened at $73.75 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $90.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.38, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12-month low of $56.08 and a 12-month high of $80.07. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $73.46 and its 200 day simple moving average is $73.33.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued its quarterly 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. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 18.49% and a net margin of 25.17%.The firm had revenue of $3.05 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.83 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.46 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.350-2.350 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 28th. Investors of record on Friday, September 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 11th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.8%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 83.67%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WMB has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Wall Street Zen downgraded Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, August 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Williams Companies from $88.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. Citigroup increased their price target on Williams Companies from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $82.00 price objective on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on Williams Companies from $87.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Williams Companies has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $85.60.

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.