QRG Capital Management Inc. Increases Stake in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

QRG Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 9.6% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 112,502 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,863 shares during the quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $8,188,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of WMB. HB Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 4.0% during the 1st quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 77,224 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $5,620,000 after buying an additional 2,969 shares during the period. Moran Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the 1st quarter worth $12,118,000. PFG Investments LLC boosted its holdings in Williams Companies by 1.9% in the first quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 21,118 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,537,000 after acquiring an additional 397 shares during the last quarter. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Williams Companies by 3.9% in the first quarter. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 92,576 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $6,738,000 after acquiring an additional 3,439 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sierra Summit Advisors LLC grew its position in Williams Companies by 1.7% during the first quarter. Sierra Summit Advisors LLC now owns 34,433 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $2,506,000 after acquiring an additional 562 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams Companies

In other Williams Companies news, COO Larry C. Larsen sold 12,000 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.48, for a total value of $917,760.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 98,219 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,511,789.12. The trade was a 10.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.16, for a total value of $148,320.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 283,159 shares in the company, valued at $20,999,071.44. This represents a 0.70% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 68,500 shares of company stock worth $5,182,655. 0.47% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently issued reports on WMB shares. Scotiabank increased their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. 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 research note on Monday, April 20th. Citigroup upped 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. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce upped their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “outperformer” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on Williams Companies from $82.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $82.94.

Williams Companies Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of Williams Companies stock opened at $73.09 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. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $74.10 and a 200-day simple moving average of $70.23. Williams Companies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $55.82 and a fifty-two week high of $80.07. The firm has a market cap of $89.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 0.57.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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. 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.28 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.60 EPS. Williams Companies’s revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 29th. Investors of record on Friday, June 12th were issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 12th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 92.11%.

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.