Ardsley Advisory Partners LP Has $3.01 Million Stock Holdings in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Ardsley Advisory Partners LP trimmed its position in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 33.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 50,000 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 25,000 shares during the quarter. Ardsley Advisory Partners LP’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $3,006,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WMB. Towne Trust Company N.A grew its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 60.2% during the 4th quarter. Towne Trust Company N.A now owns 431 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 162 shares in the last quarter. Motiv8 Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the 4th quarter worth $27,000. Clearstead Trust LLC lifted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 62.2% during the 4th quarter. Clearstead Trust LLC now owns 485 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 186 shares during the last quarter. Kemnay Advisory Services Inc. bought a new position in Williams Companies in the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, WHI TRUST Co LLC bought a new position in Williams Companies in the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. 86.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Williams Companies

In other news, COO Larry C. Larsen sold 12,000 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.48, for a total value of $917,760.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 98,219 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,511,789.12. The trade was a 10.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO John Dean Porter sold 50,000 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 6th. The shares were 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 ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders have sold 68,500 shares of company stock valued at $5,177,835. Corporate insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Shares of Williams Companies stock opened at $71.26 on Thursday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $73.38 and its 200 day simple moving average is $69.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $87.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 0.58. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12 month low of $55.82 and a 12 month high of $80.07. 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 (NYSE:WMB) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 business had revenue of $3.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.28 billion. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 18.34% and a net margin of 23.39%.Williams Companies’s quarterly revenue was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.60 earnings per share. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.44 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

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 paid a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 12th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is presently 92.11%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WMB has been the subject of several research reports. Scotiabank increased their target price on Williams Companies from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Truist Financial assumed coverage on Williams Companies in a research note on Tuesday, March 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $84.00 target price for the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Williams Companies from $80.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Williams Companies from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $82.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Williams Companies from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, April 5th. Four research 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 company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $82.40.

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.