Meiji Yasuda America Inc Invests $3.96 Million in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Meiji Yasuda America Inc purchased a new position in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 65,937 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,963,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its position in Williams Companies by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 12,646 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $760,000 after purchasing an additional 149 shares in the last quarter. Great Diamond Partners LLC boosted its position in Williams Companies by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Great Diamond Partners LLC now owns 34,870 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $2,096,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. boosted its position in Williams Companies by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 24,611 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,479,000 after purchasing an additional 158 shares in the last quarter. Towne Trust Company N.A boosted its position in Williams Companies by 60.2% in the 4th quarter. Towne Trust Company N.A now owns 431 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 162 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Courier Capital LLC boosted its position in Williams Companies by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Courier Capital LLC now owns 47,466 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $2,853,000 after purchasing an additional 162 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Williams Companies

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Glen G. Jasek sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.15, for a total value of $195,375.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 54,101 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,227,993.15. This trade represents a 4.42% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.35, for a total value of $152,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 287,159 shares in the company, valued at $21,924,589.65. The trade was a 0.69% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 68,500 shares of company stock worth $5,177,835. Company insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on WMB shares. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on Williams Companies from $82.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Williams Companies from $80.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Wolfe Research upgraded Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on Williams Companies from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $82.40.

Williams Companies Trading Down 0.8%

Shares of WMB stock opened at $71.66 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $73.43 and its two-hundred day moving average is $68.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $87.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.43, a PEG ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 0.58. Williams Companies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $55.82 and a fifty-two week high of $80.07.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.73 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $3.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.28 billion. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 18.34% and a net margin of 23.39%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.60 EPS. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. Research analysts expect that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 12th will be issued a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 12th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 92.11%.

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.