CIBC Asset Management Inc Acquires 98,239 Shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

CIBC Asset Management Inc raised its holdings in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 47.6% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 304,422 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after acquiring an additional 98,239 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $18,299,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of WMB. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Williams Companies by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,540,556 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $287,644,000 after acquiring an additional 134,777 shares during the last quarter. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH bought a new stake in Williams Companies in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $4,627,000. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp boosted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 3,344.8% during the third quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp now owns 17,465 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,106,000 after purchasing an additional 16,958 shares during the period. Gabelli Funds LLC boosted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 7.4% during the fourth quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 261,000 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $15,689,000 after purchasing an additional 17,900 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 21.0% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,105,570 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $125,839,000 after purchasing an additional 365,546 shares during the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Todd J. Rinke sold 7,364 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.39, for a total transaction of $547,807.96. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 26,055 shares in the company, valued at $1,938,231.45. The trade was a 22.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO John Dean Porter sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.37, for a total value of $3,768,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 196,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,815,254.79. This trade represents a 20.28% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders have sold 78,762 shares of company stock worth $5,937,632. Company insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WMB has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 10th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $89.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Williams Companies from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, April 5th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their target price on Williams Companies from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $82.40.

Williams Companies Stock Up 0.9%

Shares of Williams Companies stock opened at $72.28 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12-month low of $55.82 and a 12-month high of $80.07. The company has a market cap of $88.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.70, a PEG ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 0.58. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $73.59 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $68.39.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its earnings results 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 analysts’ expectations of $3.28 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.60 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.44 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 12th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.9%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is 92.11%.

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.