4,695,435 Shares in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB Bought by Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA acquired a new stake in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor acquired 4,695,435 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $354,184,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the 4th quarter worth about $747,749,000. BROOKFIELD Corp ON raised its position in shares of Williams Companies by 190.3% in the 2nd quarter. BROOKFIELD Corp ON now owns 12,028,186 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $755,490,000 after acquiring an additional 7,884,730 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its position in shares of Williams Companies by 21.3% in the 4th quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 21,325,482 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,281,875,000 after acquiring an additional 3,748,126 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Williams Companies by 295.7% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,446,915 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $268,723,000 after acquiring an additional 3,323,012 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in Williams Companies by 11.0% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 33,572,067 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $2,018,017,000 after purchasing an additional 3,314,851 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on WMB. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $89.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Williams Companies from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on Williams Companies from $73.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Williams Companies currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $85.33.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.65, for a total value of $141,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 281,159 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,863,883.35. This represents a 0.71% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Price Performance

NYSE WMB opened at $75.04 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.48. The stock has a market cap of $91.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.90, a PEG ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 0.58. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $73.27 and a 200 day simple moving average of $72.90. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52-week low of $55.82 and a 52-week high of $80.07.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The pipeline company reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50. The firm had revenue of $3.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.83 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 25.17% and a return on equity of 18.49%. The business’s revenue was up 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.46 earnings per share. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.350-2.350 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 28th. Investors of record on Friday, September 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 11th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 83.67%.

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.