Founders Financial Securities LLC Increases Stake in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Founders Financial Securities LLC increased its stake in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 11.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 67,088 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,849 shares during the period. Founders Financial Securities LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $4,885,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 40.9% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 13,680 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $740,000 after buying an additional 3,969 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 5.5% during the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,635 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $291,000 after buying an additional 242 shares during the last quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina raised its position in shares of Williams Companies by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 568,928 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $35,734,000 after buying an additional 11,926 shares during the period. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC raised its position in shares of Williams Companies by 3.0% in the 2nd quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 10,248 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $644,000 after buying an additional 296 shares during the period. Finally, Ieq Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Williams Companies by 160.1% in the second quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 165,035 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $10,366,000 after acquiring an additional 101,574 shares during the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Glen G. Jasek sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The shares were 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 $4,227,993.15. The trade was a 4.42% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Larry C. Larsen sold 12,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.48, for a total transaction of $917,760.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 98,219 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,511,789.12. The trade was a 10.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 68,500 shares of company stock worth $5,177,835. Corporate insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of NYSE:WMB opened at $73.16 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52-week low of $55.82 and a 52-week high of $80.07. The company has a 50 day moving average of $73.37 and a two-hundred day moving average of $69.27. The company has a market capitalization of $89.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.58.

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

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 29th. Investors of record on Friday, June 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 12th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is 92.11%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on WMB. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on Williams Companies from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 10th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Williams Companies from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on Williams Companies from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on Williams Companies from $82.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised shares of Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $82.40.

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.