Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lowered its stake in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 11.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 245,072 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 32,260 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $15,525,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of WMB. Chapin Davis Inc. increased its stake in Williams Companies by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. Chapin Davis Inc. now owns 10,955 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $688,000 after purchasing an additional 170 shares during the period. Wallace Advisory Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 2.6% in the second quarter. Wallace Advisory Group LLC now owns 7,031 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $420,000 after purchasing an additional 176 shares during the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. increased its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 2.2% in the second quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 8,177 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $514,000 after buying an additional 179 shares during the period. TrueWealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Williams Companies by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. TrueWealth Advisors LLC now owns 24,823 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,559,000 after buying an additional 182 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Chesley Taft & Associates LLC raised its holdings in Williams Companies by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Chesley Taft & Associates LLC now owns 10,221 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $642,000 after buying an additional 184 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams Companies

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.53, for a total transaction of $242,120.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 302,645 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,319,101.85. This trade represents a 1.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Shares of WMB stock opened at $60.31 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $73.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.09, a PEG ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 0.64. The business’s fifty day moving average is $59.96 and its 200 day moving average is $59.69. Williams Companies, Inc. has a twelve month low of $51.58 and a twelve month high of $65.55. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 3rd. The pipeline company reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.51 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $2.92 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.87 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 20.61% and a return on equity of 16.74%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.43 EPS. Williams Companies has set its FY 2025 guidance at 2.010-2.190 EPS. Research analysts expect that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 12th were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 12th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is 103.09%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on WMB. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $72.00 to $70.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Williams Companies from $70.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 2nd. Barclays upped their price target on Williams Companies from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. Mizuho upgraded Williams Companies to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 27th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $68.29.

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.