Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB Shares Bought by Metis Global Partners LLC

Metis Global Partners LLC increased its stake in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 20.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 178,538 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after acquiring an additional 29,817 shares during the period. Metis Global Partners LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $11,310,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in Williams Companies during the 2nd quarter valued at $765,164,000. BROOKFIELD Corp ON lifted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 190.3% in the second quarter. BROOKFIELD Corp ON now owns 12,028,186 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $755,490,000 after buying an additional 7,884,730 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Williams Companies by 27.3% during the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 14,417,821 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $905,583,000 after buying an additional 3,089,390 shares in the last quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership raised its position in Williams Companies by 39.0% in the second quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 6,954,733 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $436,827,000 after acquiring an additional 1,950,485 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Williams Companies by 1.5% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 133,075,340 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $8,358,462,000 after acquiring an additional 1,912,156 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Monday, January 12th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $71.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Tudor Pickering raised Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 1st. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on Williams Companies from $72.00 to $70.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on Williams Companies from $75.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $71.21.

Williams Companies Trading Up 0.1%

NYSE WMB opened at $71.17 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $62.50 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $60.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.53. Williams Companies, Inc. has a twelve month low of $51.58 and a twelve month high of $72.28. The stock has a market cap of $86.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.26, a PEG ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 0.65.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 10th. The pipeline company reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by ($0.02). Williams Companies had a net margin of 21.90% and a return on equity of 17.32%. The business had revenue of $3.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.10 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.47 EPS. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. This is a boost from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is 93.46%.

Williams Companies News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Williams Companies this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Multiple broker upgrades and higher price targets — Citi raised its target to $81 with a “buy” rating, Wells Fargo lifted its target to $80 (“overweight”), and RBC moved to $78 (“outperform”), signaling analyst conviction and upside vs. the current price. Analyst Price Target Rises
• Positive Sentiment: Company raised FY2026 guidance and sees higher 2026 profit driven by pipeline and offshore projects; management highlighted projects that should drive earnings growth and cash flow. Williams Sees Higher 2026 Profit
• Positive Sentiment: Q4 / FY25 results were mixed but supportive: adjusted EPS missed by $0.02 while revenue beat estimates and the company reported record results; management’s tone and the revenue beat appear to have calmed investor concerns. Earnings and Revenue Beat Context
• Positive Sentiment: Local/regional coverage highlights demand tailwinds from data-center growth in Tulsa and additional industrial/power demand that underpin midstream volume growth. Tulsa Data-Center Demand
• Neutral Sentiment: Longer-term performance pieces note WMB’s strong multi-year returns, useful for investor context but less likely to move the stock near-term. 10-Year Return Analysis
• Neutral Sentiment: Sector commentary and S&P 500 energy insights provide broader market context for WMB but are informational rather than company-specific catalysts. Energy Sector Insights
• Negative Sentiment: Valuation and technical caution: analysts and MarketBeat note the stock is trading near/above consensus targets and technical indicators (RSI) look stretched, which raises the risk that the share price needs time to digest gains; the tiny EPS miss also tempers the beat. Technical / Valuation Caution

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.39, for a total value of $132,780.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 293,545 shares in the company, valued at $19,488,452.55. This represents a 0.68% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.