Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB Shares Sold by New York State Common Retirement Fund

New York State Common Retirement Fund decreased its holdings in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 5.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,417,679 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 88,022 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned about 0.12% of Williams Companies worth $89,810,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. grew its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 105.6% during the second quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 1,258,552 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $79,050,000 after acquiring an additional 646,488 shares in the last quarter. World Investment Advisors grew its position in shares of Williams Companies by 185.6% during the third quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 43,069 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $2,728,000 after buying an additional 27,987 shares in the last quarter. Compass Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 75.9% in the third quarter. Compass Wealth Management LLC now owns 125,290 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $7,937,000 after buying an additional 54,057 shares during the last quarter. Adams Natural Resources Fund Inc. raised its holdings in Williams Companies by 1,238.3% in the second quarter. Adams Natural Resources Fund Inc. now owns 365,350 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $22,948,000 after acquiring an additional 338,050 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Baker Avenue Asset Management LP bought a new position in Williams Companies during the 2nd quarter valued at $1,208,000. 86.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.90, for a total value of $123,800.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 297,545 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,418,035.50. This trade represents a 0.67% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on WMB. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. Zacks Research lowered Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Williams Companies from $70.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Williams Companies from $59.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $70.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 9th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Williams Companies has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $68.29.

Williams Companies Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of WMB stock opened at $67.21 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $61.00 and a 200 day simple moving average of $60.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $82.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.64, a P/E/G ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 0.64. Williams Companies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $51.58 and a fifty-two week high of $68.27. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73.

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

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be paid a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. This is a positive change from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.1%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.