GRIMES & Co WEALTH MANAGEMENT LLC Buys Shares of 8,939 Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

GRIMES & Co WEALTH MANAGEMENT LLC purchased a new position in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 8,939 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $566,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in WMB. Private Wealth Management Group LLC boosted its holdings in Williams Companies by 104.8% during the second quarter. Private Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 469 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 240 shares during the last quarter. Hartford Funds Management Co LLC bought a new stake in Williams Companies during the 2nd quarter worth about $29,000. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp acquired a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the 2nd quarter worth about $32,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the 2nd quarter valued at about $35,000. Finally, Salomon & Ludwin LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the third quarter valued at about $35,000. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Williams Companies from $70.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 2nd. Mizuho raised shares of Williams Companies to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 4th. Finally, Tudor Pickering upgraded shares of Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 1st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $68.29.

Insider Transactions at Williams Companies

In other news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.90, for a total transaction of $123,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 297,545 shares in the company, valued at $18,418,035.50. The trade was a 0.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.44% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Williams Companies Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of Williams Companies stock opened at $60.63 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73, a current ratio of 0.42 and a quick ratio of 0.36. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $60.11 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $59.64. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $51.58 and a 1 year high of $65.55. The company has a market capitalization of $74.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.25, a P/E/G ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 0.64.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released 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 company had revenue of $2.92 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.87 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 20.61% and a return on equity of 16.74%. Williams Companies’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.43 earnings per share. Williams Companies has set its FY 2025 guidance at 2.010-2.190 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 12th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 103.09%.

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.