HBK Sorce Advisory LLC Increases Position in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

HBK Sorce Advisory LLC grew its position in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 259.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 45,517 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 32,871 shares during the period. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $2,890,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Williams Companies during the 2nd quarter worth about $765,164,000. BROOKFIELD Corp ON lifted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 190.3% during the second quarter. BROOKFIELD Corp ON now owns 12,028,186 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $755,490,000 after purchasing an additional 7,884,730 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 27.3% during the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 14,417,821 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $905,583,000 after purchasing an additional 3,089,390 shares in the last quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership boosted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 39.0% in the second quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 6,954,733 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $436,827,000 after purchasing an additional 1,950,485 shares during the period. Finally, Voya Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 275.7% in the first quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 2,609,318 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $155,933,000 after purchasing an additional 1,914,730 shares in the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WMB has been the subject of several recent research reports. Tudor Pickering raised shares of Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 1st. Mizuho upgraded Williams Companies to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 27th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Williams Companies from $74.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 30th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on Williams Companies from $72.00 to $70.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on Williams Companies from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 13th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $68.21.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 4,000 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.53, for a total transaction of $242,120.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 302,645 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,319,101.85. The trade was a 1.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Stock Up 1.4%

Shares of NYSE WMB opened at $59.76 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $72.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73, a current ratio of 0.42 and a quick ratio of 0.36. The business has a 50-day moving average of $59.93 and a two-hundred day moving average of $59.63. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $51.58 and a 1 year high of $65.55.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued its earnings results on Monday, November 3rd. The pipeline company reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.51 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $2.92 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.87 billion. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 16.74% and a net margin of 20.61%.Williams Companies’s revenue was up 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.43 EPS. Williams Companies has set its FY 2025 guidance at 2.010-2.190 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 12th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 12th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 103.09%.

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.