Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA Invests $915,000 in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA purchased a new stake in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 15,226 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $915,000.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Salomon & Ludwin LLC bought a new position in Williams Companies during the third quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Financial Life Planners acquired a new stake in Williams Companies in the third quarter valued at approximately $36,000. South Plains Financial Inc. grew its position in Williams Companies by 289.7% in the second quarter. South Plains Financial Inc. now owns 608 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 452 shares in the last quarter. OLD Second National Bank of Aurora grew its position in Williams Companies by 71.2% in the third quarter. OLD Second National Bank of Aurora now owns 630 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 262 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Turning Point Benefit Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the 3rd quarter worth $46,000. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on WMB shares. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $75.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $78.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Williams Companies from $69.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Williams Companies from $78.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Finally, Scotiabank upgraded Williams Companies from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $66.00 to $84.00 in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Williams Companies has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $76.50.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Shares of Williams Companies stock opened at $72.44 on Friday. 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 firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $69.57 and a 200-day simple moving average of $63.57. The stock has a market capitalization of $88.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.85, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.63. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1-year low of $51.58 and a 1-year high of $76.87.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 10th. The pipeline company reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by ($0.02). The firm 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 previous year, the business posted $0.47 earnings per share. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be given a $0.525 dividend. This is an increase from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 98.13%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 10,107 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.91, for a total value of $757,115.37. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 17,230 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,290,699.30. The trade was a 36.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Todd J. Rinke sold 7,364 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.39, for a total value of $547,807.96. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 26,055 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,938,231.45. This represents a 22.04% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 51,369 shares of company stock valued at $3,769,012. Company insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

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.