Eventide Asset Management LLC Sells 292,077 Shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Eventide Asset Management LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 26.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 793,160 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 292,077 shares during the period. Eventide Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $47,685,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Adams Natural Resources Fund Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 24.4% during the 4th quarter. Adams Natural Resources Fund Inc. now owns 435,550 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $26,181,000 after buying an additional 85,500 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership bought a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the 4th quarter worth approximately $41,313,000. Aigen Investment Management LP boosted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 13.8% during the 4th quarter. Aigen Investment Management LP now owns 40,358 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $2,426,000 after buying an additional 4,882 shares in the last quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 13.5% during the 4th quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 26,634 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,601,000 after buying an additional 3,160 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FORA Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the 4th quarter worth approximately $219,000. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Williams Companies from $78.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Williams Companies from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on Williams Companies from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 10th. Truist Financial started coverage on Williams Companies in a report on Tuesday, March 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $84.00 price target on the stock. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Williams Companies from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $82.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, April 20th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $82.40.

Insider Transactions at Williams Companies

In related news, CFO John Dean Porter sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.37, for a total value of $3,768,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 196,567 shares in the company, valued at $14,815,254.79. This trade represents a 20.28% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Glen G. Jasek sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.15, for a total value of $195,375.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 54,101 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,227,993.15. This represents a 4.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 68,500 shares of company stock valued at $5,177,835 in the last 90 days. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Shares of WMB opened at $71.92 on Friday. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12-month low of $55.82 and a 12-month high of $80.07. The business’s fifty day moving average is $73.44 and its 200 day moving average is $68.85. 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 cap of $87.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.54, a P/E/G ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 0.58.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued its earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.10. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 18.34% and a net margin of 23.39%.The company had revenue of $3.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.28 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.60 EPS. Williams Companies’s quarterly revenue was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 29th. Investors of record on Friday, June 12th will be issued a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 12th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 92.11%.

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.