Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB Stake Boosted by Focus Partners Wealth

Focus Partners Wealth grew its stake in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 114.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,535,944 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after acquiring an additional 820,489 shares during the period. Focus Partners Wealth’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $94,459,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH acquired a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the 4th quarter valued at $4,627,000. Gabelli Funds LLC lifted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 7.4% in the 4th quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 261,000 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $15,689,000 after purchasing an additional 17,900 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 21.0% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,105,570 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $125,839,000 after purchasing an additional 365,546 shares during the last quarter. Stephens Inc. AR lifted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 8.9% in the 4th quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 164,900 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $9,912,000 after purchasing an additional 13,438 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 56.3% in the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 57,550 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $3,459,000 after purchasing an additional 20,740 shares during the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Williams Companies Stock Down 0.2%

Williams Companies stock opened at $71.92 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $87.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.54, a P/E/G ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.76. Williams Companies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $55.82 and a fifty-two week high of $80.07. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $73.44 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $68.92.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released its earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.73 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $3.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.28 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 23.39% and a return on equity of 18.34%. The business’s revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.60 EPS. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 12th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is presently 92.11%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce lifted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “outperformer” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $78.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $82.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Williams Companies currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $82.40.

Insider Activity at Williams Companies

In other news, SVP Glen G. Jasek sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.15, for a total transaction of $195,375.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 54,101 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,227,993.15. The trade was a 4.42% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.35, for a total value of $152,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 287,159 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,924,589.65. This trade represents a 0.69% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 68,500 shares of company stock worth $5,177,835. 0.47% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.