Dearborn Partners LLC Acquires New Position in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Dearborn Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 16,113 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,173,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. D.B. Root & Company LLC purchased a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the 2nd quarter valued at $1,335,000. Asset One Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the second quarter worth $264,000. Infrastructure Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the second quarter worth $15,277,000. Cibc World Market Inc. acquired a new stake in Williams Companies during the second quarter valued at $45,102,000. Finally, Satovsky Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Williams Companies during the second quarter valued at $212,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 13,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.87, for a total transaction of $973,310.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 268,159 shares in the company, valued at $20,077,064.33. This represents a 4.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 17,000 shares of company stock worth $1,262,930. 0.47% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

WMB opened at $71.02 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.48. The company has a market cap of $86.87 billion, a PE ratio of 28.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.59. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $73.37 and a 200-day moving average of $73.20. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52-week low of $56.08 and a 52-week high of $80.07.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The pipeline company reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.50. The firm had revenue of $3.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.83 billion. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 18.49% and a net margin of 25.17%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.46 EPS. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.350-2.350 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 11th will be given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 11th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.0%. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is currently 83.67%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $82.00 target price on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on Williams Companies from $81.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Scotiabank boosted their price target on Williams Companies from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Williams Companies from $88.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $78.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $85.60.

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.