Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB Shares Bought by New York State Common Retirement Fund

New York State Common Retirement Fund lifted its position in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 113.6% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,505,701 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 800,681 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned about 0.12% of Williams Companies worth $94,573,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of WMB. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 40.9% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 13,680 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $740,000 after acquiring an additional 3,969 shares during the period. Eastern Bank raised its position in Williams Companies by 939.3% in the first quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 925 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $55,000 after purchasing an additional 836 shares during the period. Modera Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 18.5% during the first quarter. Modera Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,737 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $343,000 after purchasing an additional 894 shares in the last quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. boosted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 89.5% in the first quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 5,044 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $301,000 after buying an additional 2,382 shares during the period. Finally, Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management grew its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 290.3% in the first quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 27,271 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,630,000 after buying an additional 20,283 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.53, for a total value of $242,120.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 302,645 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,319,101.85. This trade represents a 1.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on WMB shares. Cibc World Mkts raised shares of Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 15th. Zacks Research downgraded Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Friday, October 17th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Williams Companies from $74.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 30th. Argus reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $66.00 target price on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on Williams Companies from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $68.21.

Williams Companies Stock Up 1.2%

Shares of Williams Companies stock opened at $60.96 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $74.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.63, a PEG ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 0.63. Williams Companies, Inc. has a twelve month low of $51.58 and a twelve month high of $65.55. 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 business’s 50 day simple moving average is $60.86 and its 200-day simple moving average is $59.53.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 3rd. The pipeline company reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $2.92 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.87 billion. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 16.23% and a net margin of 21.63%.Williams Companies’s quarterly revenue was up 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.43 earnings per share. Williams Companies has set its FY 2025 guidance at 2.010-2.190 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 12th. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is presently 103.09%.

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.