Essex Financial Services Inc. Has $495,000 Stock Holdings in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Essex Financial Services Inc. decreased its stake in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 51.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,808 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 7,186 shares during the quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $495,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of WMB. Towne Trust Company N.A boosted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 60.2% in the fourth quarter. Towne Trust Company N.A now owns 431 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 162 shares during the period. Motiv8 Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Clearstead Trust LLC lifted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 62.2% in the 4th quarter. Clearstead Trust LLC now owns 485 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 186 shares in the last quarter. Kemnay Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, WHI TRUST Co LLC acquired a new position in Williams Companies in the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on WMB. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on Williams Companies from $87.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Williams Companies from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $82.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $88.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Four equities 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Williams Companies has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $82.94.

Williams Companies Price Performance

NYSE WMB opened at $73.09 on Friday. Williams Companies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $55.82 and a fifty-two week high of $80.07. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $74.10 and its two-hundred day moving average is $70.23. The firm has a market cap of $89.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 0.57. 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 (NYSE:WMB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.73 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.10. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 18.34% and a net margin of 23.39%.The business had revenue of $3.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.28 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.60 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 12th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 12th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is currently 92.11%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Glen G. Jasek sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,227,993.15. The trade was a 4.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Larry C. Larsen sold 12,000 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.48, for a total value of $917,760.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 98,219 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,511,789.12. This trade represents a 10.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 68,500 shares of company stock valued at $5,182,655. Corporate insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

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.