Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB Shares Acquired by Sapient Capital LLC

Sapient Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 68.2% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 23,443 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after buying an additional 9,502 shares during the quarter. Sapient Capital LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $1,743,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of WMB. Apella Capital LLC raised its stake in Williams Companies by 2.3% during the second quarter. Apella Capital LLC now owns 5,988 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $450,000 after purchasing an additional 134 shares during the period. Mirador Capital Partners LP grew its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. Mirador Capital Partners LP now owns 16,153 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,201,000 after buying an additional 140 shares during the period. Aletheian Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Williams Companies by 3.8% during the 2nd quarter. Aletheian Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,830 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $285,000 after buying an additional 140 shares during the period. Mill Creek Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Williams Companies by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Mill Creek Capital Advisors LLC now owns 6,000 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $361,000 after acquiring an additional 141 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Eagle Bay Advisors LLC grew its position in Williams Companies by 5.2% in the second quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC now owns 2,986 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $222,000 after acquiring an additional 148 shares during the period. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WMB has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Scotiabank lifted their target price on Williams Companies from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 8th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $82.00 price objective on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $83.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, August 10th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $85.60.

Insider Transactions at Williams Companies

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Terrance Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.56, for a total value of $151,120.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 264,259 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,967,410.04. This trade represents a 0.75% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 19,000 shares of company stock worth $1,414,050. 0.47% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Shares of Williams Companies stock opened at $74.17 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $90.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.59. 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 business has a 50-day moving average of $73.30 and a 200 day moving average of $73.49. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12 month low of $56.08 and a 12 month high of $80.07.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The pipeline company reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50. Williams Companies had a net margin of 25.17% and a return on equity of 18.49%. The company had revenue of $3.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.83 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.46 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter 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. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 11th will be issued 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 dividend payout ratio is 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.