Barings LLC Invests $7.56 Million in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Barings LLC purchased a new position in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 103,911 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,563,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WMB. Angeles Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 4.1% in the first quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 13,078 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $952,000 after acquiring an additional 518 shares in the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its holdings in Williams Companies by 2,351.5% during the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 1,735,669 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $126,323,000 after acquiring an additional 1,664,869 shares in the last quarter. SteelPeak Wealth LLC bought a new position in Williams Companies during the 1st quarter worth about $228,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its position in Williams Companies by 46.7% during the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 254,668 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $18,293,000 after purchasing an additional 81,126 shares during the period. Finally, Independent Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Williams Companies during the 1st quarter valued at about $334,000. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Larry C. Larsen sold 12,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.48, for a total transaction of $917,760.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 98,219 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,511,789.12. This represents a 10.89% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.16, for a total value of $148,320.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 283,159 shares in the company, valued at $20,999,071.44. This represents a 0.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 68,500 shares of company stock worth $5,182,655. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on WMB shares. Wolfe Research raised shares of Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $87.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $78.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Citigroup upped their target price on Williams Companies from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 4th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $83.56.

Williams Companies Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of Williams Companies stock opened at $74.70 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $74.34 and its 200-day moving average price is $71.30. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52-week low of $55.82 and a 52-week high of $80.07. The company has a market cap of $91.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.76, a PEG ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 0.57.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.73 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.10. Williams Companies had a net margin of 23.39% and a return on equity of 18.34%. The firm had revenue of $3.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.28 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.60 EPS. Williams Companies’s revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 12th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 12th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.8%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 92.11%.

Williams Companies Company Profile

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.