Code Waechter LLC Increases Stake in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Code Waechter LLC grew its position in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 14.9% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 9,823 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after buying an additional 1,271 shares during the period. Code Waechter LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $617,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of WMB. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 0.6% in 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 purchasing an additional 807,019 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 6.0% in the 1st 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 in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG increased its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 5.6% in the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 17,520,491 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,047,025,000 after purchasing an additional 932,998 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 15,291,842 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $913,840,000 after purchasing an additional 54,902 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 45.0% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 11,339,078 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $677,623,000 after purchasing an additional 3,519,370 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Williams Companies news, COO Larry C. Larsen sold 4,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.47, for a total transaction of $263,115.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 77,612 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,537,973.64. This trade represents a 5.48% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.62, for a total transaction of $115,240.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 311,645 shares in the company, valued at $17,956,984.90. This represents a 0.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 0.44% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $70.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 2nd. TD Cowen assumed coverage on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Monday, July 7th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $67.00 price target for the company. Cibc World Mkts upgraded shares of Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 15th. CIBC upgraded shares of Williams Companies from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and set a $64.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, August 15th. Finally, Argus restated a “buy” rating and set a $66.00 target price on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Thursday, August 14th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $67.50.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

NYSE:WMB opened at $59.04 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $60.36 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $59.41. Williams Companies, Inc. has a twelve month low of $51.48 and a twelve month high of $65.55. The company has a market capitalization of $71.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 0.65.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its earnings results on Monday, November 3rd. The pipeline company reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.51 by ($0.02). Williams Companies had a net margin of 21.63% and a return on equity of 16.23%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.43 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. Williams Companies has set its FY 2025 guidance at 2.010-2.190 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 12th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 100.50%.

Williams Companies 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.