Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC Trims Stock Holdings in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC reduced its position in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 309,060 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 3,507 shares during the period. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $17,836,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 131,163,184 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $7,838,312,000 after acquiring an additional 807,019 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in Williams Companies by 6.0% in the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 29,624,104 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,770,336,000 after purchasing an additional 1,680,477 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG lifted its position in Williams Companies by 5.6% during the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 17,520,491 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,047,025,000 after acquiring an additional 932,998 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 0.4% during the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 15,291,842 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $913,840,000 after purchasing an additional 54,902 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 45.0% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 11,339,078 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $677,623,000 after acquiring an additional 3,519,370 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WMB has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 8th. TD Cowen began coverage on Williams Companies in a report on Monday, July 7th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $67.00 price target on the stock. Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $59.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. UBS Group increased their price target on Williams Companies from $74.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 30th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $66.73.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

WMB opened at $62.39 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73. The firm has a market cap of $76.08 billion, a PE ratio of 31.35, a P/E/G ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 0.65. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $59.95 and a 200-day simple moving average of $59.16. Williams Companies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $51.34 and a fifty-two week high of $65.55.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its earnings results on Monday, August 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.46 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.49 by ($0.03). Williams Companies had a net margin of 21.63% and a return on equity of 16.23%. The company had revenue of $2.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.90 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.43 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.0% on a year-over-year basis. Williams Companies has set its FY 2025 guidance at 2.010-2.190 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 12th were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 12th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 100.50%.

Insider Activity at Williams Companies

In other news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.62, for a total transaction of $115,240.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 311,645 shares in the company, valued at $17,956,984.90. The trade was a 0.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Larry C. Larsen sold 4,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.47, for a total transaction of $263,115.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 77,612 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,537,973.64. This represents a 5.48% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 8,500 shares of company stock worth $497,715. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Williams Companies Company Profile

The Williams Companies, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an energy infrastructure company primarily in the United States. It operates through Transmission & Gulf of Mexico, Northeast G&P, West, and Gas & NGL Marketing Services segments. The Transmission & Gulf of Mexico segment comprises natural gas pipelines; Transco, Northwest pipeline, MountainWest, and related natural gas storage facilities; and natural gas gathering and processing, and crude oil production handling and transportation assets in the Gulf Coast region.