200,027 Shares in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB Purchased by Rakuten Investment Management Inc.

Rakuten Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 200,027 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,014,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the second quarter valued at approximately $3,320,606,000. Norges Bank bought a new position in Williams Companies during the 4th quarter worth $747,749,000. Legal & General Group Plc bought a new position in Williams Companies during the 2nd quarter worth $596,077,000. BROOKFIELD Corp ON raised its holdings in Williams Companies by 190.3% in the 2nd quarter. BROOKFIELD Corp ON now owns 12,028,186 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $755,490,000 after acquiring an additional 7,884,730 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP acquired a new position in Williams Companies in the 2nd quarter valued at $500,305,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 13,000 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 268,159 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,077,064.33. This represents a 4.62% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold 17,000 shares of company stock worth $1,262,930 in the last three months. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Williams Companies Stock Down 0.6%

WMB stock opened at $73.75 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $73.46 and a 200-day moving average price of $73.33. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12 month low of $56.08 and a 12 month high of $80.07. The company has a current ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $90.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.58.

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

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $87.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $73.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Tuesday, July 14th. Finally, TD Cowen raised their target price on Williams Companies from $81.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Williams Companies presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $85.60.

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.