Dearborn Partners LLC Takes $1.19 Million Position in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Dearborn Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 16,043 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,193,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 67,981,106 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $4,086,344,000 after buying an additional 1,296,991 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in Williams Companies by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 46,053,873 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $2,768,298,000 after acquiring an additional 2,100,164 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley lifted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 11.0% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 33,572,067 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $2,018,017,000 after acquiring an additional 3,314,851 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 21.3% during the fourth quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 21,325,482 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,281,875,000 after acquiring an additional 3,748,126 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG boosted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 20,036,698 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,204,406,000 after acquiring an additional 239,732 shares during the period. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Williams Companies Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of WMB opened at $74.19 on Friday. Williams Companies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $56.08 and a fifty-two week high of $80.07. The firm has a market cap of $90.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.56, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.58. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $73.44 and a 200-day moving average price of $73.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.48.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued its earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The pipeline company reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50. Williams Companies had a net margin of 25.17% and a return on equity of 18.49%. The company had revenue of $3.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.83 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.46 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.350-2.350 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 28th. Investors of record on Friday, September 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 11th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.8%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 83.67%.

Insider Transactions at Williams Companies

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 13,000 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.87, for a total value of $973,310.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 268,159 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,077,064.33. The trade was a 4.62% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 17,000 shares of company stock worth $1,262,930. 0.47% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WMB has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on Williams Companies from $87.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $89.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 8th. Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $85.60.

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.