649,032 Shares in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB Purchased by Freestone Grove Partners LP

Freestone Grove Partners LP bought a new stake in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 649,032 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $48,249,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of WMB. Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec acquired a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the second quarter valued at approximately $47,738,000. Pointe Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Williams Companies during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $809,000. Man Group plc purchased a new position in Williams Companies in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,949,000. Jupiter Topco LLC purchased a new position in Williams Companies in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $9,868,000. Finally, Wedbush Fund Advisers LLC acquired a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the second quarter worth $695,000. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Williams Companies from $88.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Barclays upped their price target on Williams Companies from $73.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $82.00 price target on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Williams Companies from $99.00 to $103.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 18th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Williams Companies presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $85.60.

Insider Activity at Williams Companies

In other news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 13,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.87, for a total value of $973,310.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 268,159 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,077,064.33. This represents a 4.62% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In the last quarter, insiders sold 17,000 shares of company stock valued at $1,262,930. Corporate insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Shares of WMB opened at $74.33 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $90.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.61, a PEG ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 0.58. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $73.42 and its 200-day simple moving average is $73.28. Williams Companies, Inc. has a twelve month low of $56.08 and a twelve month high of $80.07. The company has a current ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83.

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

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 11th will be given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 11th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 83.67%.

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.