Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Buys 19,670 Shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System raised its stake in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 1.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,212,373 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after buying an additional 19,670 shares during the quarter. Williams Companies accounts for about 1.5% of Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings, making the stock its 10th biggest position. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $72,876,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WMB. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Williams Companies in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $747,749,000. BROOKFIELD Corp ON grew its position in Williams Companies by 190.3% in the second quarter. BROOKFIELD Corp ON now owns 12,028,186 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $755,490,000 after acquiring an additional 7,884,730 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in Williams Companies by 15.9% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 48,586,299 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $3,077,942,000 after acquiring an additional 6,668,950 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its position in Williams Companies by 21.3% in the fourth quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 21,325,482 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,281,875,000 after acquiring an additional 3,748,126 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC grew its position in Williams Companies by 4,992.2% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 3,704,739 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $222,692,000 after acquiring an additional 3,631,986 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.35, for a total transaction of $152,700.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 287,159 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,924,589.65. The trade was a 0.69% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO John Dean Porter sold 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.37, for a total transaction of $3,768,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 196,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,815,254.79. This represents a 20.28% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 68,500 shares of company stock valued at $5,177,835. 0.47% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

NYSE:WMB opened at $71.36 on Wednesday. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $55.82 and a 1 year high of $80.07. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $73.41 and its 200 day simple moving average is $69.08. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $87.17 billion, a PE ratio of 31.30, a PEG ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 0.58.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.10. Williams Companies had a net margin of 23.39% and a return on equity of 18.34%. The business had revenue of $3.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.28 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.60 EPS. Williams Companies’s 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. On average, sell-side 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. Investors of record on Friday, June 12th will be paid a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 12th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 92.11%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on WMB shares. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $89.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Williams Companies from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, April 5th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on Williams Companies from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen 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 an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $82.40.

Williams Companies Company 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.