Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH Acquires 11,482 Shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH lifted its holdings in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 1.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 671,217 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 11,482 shares during the period. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH owned 0.05% of Williams Companies worth $40,193,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Williams Companies by 3.1% during the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,540,556 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $287,644,000 after buying an additional 134,777 shares in the last quarter. World Investment Advisors grew 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 buying an additional 27,987 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew 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 buying an additional 16,027 shares in the last quarter. Compass Wealth Management LLC grew its position in 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 buying an additional 54,057 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp grew its position in Williams Companies by 3,344.8% during the third quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp now owns 17,465 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,106,000 after buying an additional 16,958 shares in the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Williams Companies Stock Up 0.8%

Shares of WMB opened at $71.69 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $87.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.50, a PEG ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83, a current ratio of 0.53 and a quick ratio of 0.48. Williams Companies, Inc. has a one year low of $55.82 and a one year high of $76.87. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $73.03 and its 200-day simple moving average is $65.52.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 10th. The pipeline company reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.57 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $3.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.10 billion. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 17.32% and a net margin of 21.90%.During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.47 earnings per share. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 30th. Investors of record on Friday, March 13th were given a $0.525 dividend. This is a boost from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 13th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 98.13%.

Insider Activity at Williams Companies

In related news, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 10,107 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.91, for a total value of $757,115.37. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 17,230 shares in the company, valued at $1,290,699.30. The trade was a 36.97% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Payvand Fazel sold 2,898 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.15, for a total transaction of $211,988.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 31,766 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,323,682.90. This trade represents a 8.36% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 53,369 shares of company stock worth $3,912,512. Company insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on WMB. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Williams Companies from $80.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 13th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Williams Companies from $69.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on Williams Companies from $78.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Williams Companies from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $78.60.

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.