Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB Shares Bought by Clearbridge Investments LLC

Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its holdings in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 21.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 21,325,482 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,748,126 shares during the quarter. Williams Companies accounts for about 1.0% of Clearbridge Investments LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 13th biggest position. Clearbridge Investments LLC owned about 1.75% of Williams Companies worth $1,281,875,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of WMB. Towne Trust Company N.A lifted its holdings in Williams Companies by 60.2% in the fourth quarter. Towne Trust Company N.A now owns 431 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 162 shares during the period. Clearstead Trust LLC lifted its holdings in Williams Companies by 62.2% in the fourth quarter. Clearstead Trust LLC now owns 485 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 186 shares during the period. WHI TRUST Co LLC acquired a new stake in Williams Companies in the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. First Command Advisory Services Inc. lifted its holdings in Williams Companies by 216.8% in the fourth quarter. First Command Advisory Services Inc. now owns 491 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 336 shares during the period. Finally, Entrust Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on WMB. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Williams Companies from $78.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce raised their price target on Williams Companies from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “outperformer” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on Williams Companies from $82.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Williams Companies from $80.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on Williams Companies from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 10th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $82.40.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO John Dean Porter sold 50,000 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.37, for a total transaction of $3,768,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 196,567 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,815,254.79. This trade represents a 20.28% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Payvand Fazel sold 2,898 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.15, for a total value of $211,988.70. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 31,766 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,323,682.90. This represents a 8.36% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 78,762 shares of company stock worth $5,937,632 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Trading Down 0.6%

Shares of WMB stock opened at $72.00 on Friday. Williams Companies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $55.82 and a fifty-two week high of $80.07. The stock has a market cap of $87.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 0.58. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $73.55 and a 200-day simple moving average of $68.42. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.73 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $3.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.28 billion. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 18.34% and a net margin of 23.39%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.60 EPS. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 29th. Investors of record on Friday, June 12th will be given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 12th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.