Kestra Advisory Services LLC Purchases 26,973 Shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Kestra Advisory Services LLC increased its position in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 9.0% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 328,111 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 26,973 shares during the quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $23,880,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 133,963,343 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $8,052,537,000 after purchasing an additional 883,245 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Williams Companies by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 67,981,106 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $4,086,344,000 after buying an additional 1,296,991 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake 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 valued at $3,077,942,000 after acquiring an additional 6,668,950 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its stake in Williams Companies by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 46,053,873 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $2,768,298,000 after acquiring an additional 2,100,164 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised its position in shares of Williams Companies by 11.0% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 33,572,067 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $2,018,017,000 after acquiring an additional 3,314,851 shares during the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Williams Companies news, COO Larry C. Larsen sold 12,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.48, for a total transaction of $917,760.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 98,219 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,511,789.12. This trade represents a 10.89% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO John Dean Porter sold 50,000 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 196,567 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,815,254.79. The trade was a 20.28% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 68,500 shares of company stock worth $5,182,655. Company insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Trading Down 0.6%

Shares of WMB stock traded down $0.43 on Friday, hitting $75.02. The stock had a trading volume of 4,016,695 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,439,942. 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 twelve month low of $55.82 and a twelve month high of $80.07. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $74.34 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $70.79. The firm has a market cap of $91.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.90, a PEG ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 0.57.

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

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 12th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 12th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.8%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 92.11%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WMB has been the topic of several recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Williams Companies from $88.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. TD Cowen increased their target price on Williams Companies from $81.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce raised their target price on Williams Companies from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “outperformer” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Williams Companies from $78.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Truist Financial started coverage on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Tuesday, March 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $84.00 price target on the stock. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $83.50.

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.