Vanguard Group Inc. Boosts Stock Holdings in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 0.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 133,963,343 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 883,245 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 0.11% of Williams Companies worth $8,052,537,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of WMB. Towne Trust Company N.A boosted its holdings in Williams Companies by 60.2% during the 4th quarter. Towne Trust Company N.A now owns 431 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 162 shares during the period. Salomon & Ludwin LLC purchased a new position in Williams Companies in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $35,000. Financial Life Planners purchased a new position in Williams Companies in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $36,000. OLD Second National Bank of Aurora lifted its position in Williams Companies by 71.2% in the third quarter. OLD Second National Bank of Aurora now owns 630 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 262 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Turning Point Benefit Group Inc. bought a new stake in Williams Companies in the third quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Williams Companies

In related news, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 10,107 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owned 17,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,290,699.30. This represents a 36.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Todd J. Rinke sold 7,364 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.39, for a total transaction 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 $1,938,231.45. This trade represents a 22.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 53,369 shares of company stock valued at $3,912,512. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on WMB. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $78.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Truist Financial started coverage on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Tuesday, March 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $84.00 price target for the company. Wolfe Research raised shares of Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Williams Companies from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $82.00 price target on the stock in a report on Monday, April 20th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $70.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $78.60.

Williams Companies Price Performance

WMB opened at $72.15 on Monday. 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 $55.82 and a 52-week high of $76.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $88.13 billion, a PE ratio of 33.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 0.63. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $73.03 and its 200-day moving average price is $65.61.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 10th. The pipeline company reported $0.55 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 analysts’ expectations 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 business earned $0.47 EPS. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.41 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 13th were issued 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 (DPR) is currently 98.13%.

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.