Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky Grows Position in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky boosted its position in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 103.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 194,088 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after buying an additional 98,717 shares during the quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $12,295,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Hartford Funds Management Co LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the second quarter valued at about $29,000. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp purchased a new position in Williams Companies in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $32,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $35,000. Salomon & Ludwin LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the third quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Finally, Aspect Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 81.3% in the second quarter. Aspect Partners LLC now owns 582 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 261 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on WMB. Scotiabank raised Williams Companies from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $66.00 to $84.00 in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $69.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $78.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Zacks Research raised Williams Companies from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $70.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $75.86.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 27,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.92, for a total transaction of $1,968,840.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 293,159 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,377,154.28. This trade represents a 8.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 10,107 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.91, for a total value of $757,115.37. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 17,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,290,699.30. The trade was a 36.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 43,107 shares of company stock valued at $3,133,015 over the last ninety days. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Williams Companies stock opened at $75.74 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $66.02 and a 200-day simple moving average of $62.10. The stock has a market cap of $92.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 0.63. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12-month low of $51.58 and a 12-month high of $76.87.

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

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 30th. Investors of record on Friday, March 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. This is a positive change from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.8%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 93.46%.

Williams Companies 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.