15,226 Shares in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB Bought by Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA

Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA purchased a new stake in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund purchased 15,226 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $915,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of WMB. LRI Investments LLC raised its position in shares of Williams Companies by 8.8% during the third quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 2,169 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $137,000 after buying an additional 176 shares during the last quarter. Patten & Patten Inc. TN lifted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 1.7% in the third quarter. Patten & Patten Inc. TN now owns 11,087 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $702,000 after buying an additional 187 shares during the period. Chesley Taft & Associates LLC grew its position in Williams Companies by 1.9% during the third quarter. Chesley Taft & Associates LLC now owns 10,420 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $660,000 after buying an additional 199 shares in the last quarter. Gentry Private Wealth LLC increased its stake in Williams Companies by 2.1% during the third quarter. Gentry Private Wealth LLC now owns 9,578 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $607,000 after acquiring an additional 199 shares during the period. Finally, Tradewinds Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Williams Companies by 9.0% during the third quarter. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC now owns 2,425 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $154,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the period. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on WMB. UBS Group raised their price objective on Williams Companies from $78.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Williams Companies from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 7th. Zacks Research upgraded Williams Companies from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. Scotiabank raised Williams Companies from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $66.00 to $84.00 in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $80.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 13th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $76.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Payvand Fazel sold 2,898 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.15, for a total value of $211,988.70. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 31,766 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,323,682.90. The trade was a 8.36% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 10,107 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.91, for a total transaction of $757,115.37. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 17,230 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,290,699.30. The trade was a 36.97% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 51,369 shares of company stock valued at $3,769,012. 0.44% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Williams Companies Stock Down 2.2%

Shares of WMB opened at $72.44 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $69.57 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $63.57. The stock has a market cap of $88.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.85, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.63. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12 month low of $51.58 and a 12 month high of $76.87.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 10th. The pipeline company reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.57 by ($0.02). Williams Companies had a net margin of 21.90% and a return on equity of 17.32%. The company had revenue of $3.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.10 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.47 earnings per share. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be given a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. This is a positive change from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 98.13%.

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.