Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. Sells 10,675 Shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. lowered its holdings in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 11.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 79,517 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 10,675 shares during the period. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $4,780,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WMB. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Williams Companies by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,540,556 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $287,644,000 after buying an additional 134,777 shares during the last quarter. World Investment Advisors lifted its position in 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 acquiring an additional 27,987 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its position in Williams Companies by 9.5% during the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 184,123 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $11,664,000 after acquiring an additional 16,027 shares during the last quarter. Compass Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 75.9% during the third quarter. Compass Wealth Management LLC now owns 125,290 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $7,937,000 after acquiring an additional 54,057 shares during the period. Finally, Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp grew its position in shares of Williams Companies by 3,344.8% in the third quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp now owns 17,465 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,106,000 after purchasing an additional 16,958 shares during the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Williams Companies Stock Down 1.5%

Shares of WMB opened at $72.45 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.53. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52 week low of $51.58 and a 52 week high of $76.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $88.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.85, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.63. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $71.13 and a 200-day moving average of $64.28.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 10th. The pipeline company reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $3.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.10 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 21.90% and a return on equity of 17.32%. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.47 EPS. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 13th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. This is an increase from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 13th. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is currently 98.13%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Williams Companies from $69.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Tudor Pickering raised Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 1st. Scotiabank upgraded Williams Companies from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $66.00 to $84.00 in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Truist Financial assumed coverage on Williams Companies in a report on Tuesday, March 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $84.00 target price for the company. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $80.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 13th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $77.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.24, for a total transaction of $150,480.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 291,159 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,906,803.16. This represents a 0.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Todd J. Rinke sold 7,364 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.39, for a total value of $547,807.96. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 26,055 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,938,231.45. This represents a 22.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 51,369 shares of company stock valued at $3,769,012. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.