Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Buys New Shares in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new position in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 62,200 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,527,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of WMB. Towne Trust Company N.A boosted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 60.2% in the 4th quarter. Towne Trust Company N.A now owns 431 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 162 shares during the period. Motiv8 Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Williams Companies in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Clearstead Trust LLC lifted its stake in Williams Companies by 62.2% in the fourth quarter. Clearstead Trust LLC now owns 485 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 186 shares during the last quarter. Kemnay Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new position in Williams Companies in the fourth quarter worth approximately $29,000. Finally, WHI TRUST Co LLC acquired a new position in Williams Companies during the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.35, for a total transaction of $152,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 287,159 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,924,589.65. This represents a 0.69% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Larry C. Larsen sold 12,000 shares of Williams Companies 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 sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 98,219 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,511,789.12. The trade was a 10.89% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 68,500 shares of company stock valued at $5,177,835. 0.47% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Shares of WMB stock opened at $78.00 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $73.82 and its 200 day moving average price is $69.78. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $95.28 billion, a PE ratio of 34.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 0.58. 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 earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.73 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $3.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.28 billion. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 18.34% and a net margin of 23.39%.The company’s revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.60 EPS. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.44 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 29th. Investors of record on Friday, June 12th will be given a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 12th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 92.11%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on WMB shares. Citigroup increased their target price on Williams Companies from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on Williams Companies from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 10th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Williams Companies from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. Truist Financial began coverage on Williams Companies in a research note on Tuesday, March 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $84.00 target price for the company. Finally, TD Cowen upped their price target on Williams Companies from $81.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $82.40.

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.