Lee Financial Co Boosts Position in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Lee Financial Co raised its stake in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 102.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 17,586 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,910 shares during the period. Lee Financial Co’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $1,114,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WMB. Everhart Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 18.3% in the 3rd quarter. Everhart Financial Group Inc. now owns 20,518 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,300,000 after buying an additional 3,178 shares in the last quarter. Keybank National Association OH lifted its position in Williams Companies by 1.1% in the third quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 33,072 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $2,095,000 after acquiring an additional 356 shares during the last quarter. National Pension Service boosted its stake in Williams Companies by 1.1% in the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 3,873,861 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $245,409,000 after acquiring an additional 42,387 shares in the last quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 11.9% during the third quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,766 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $239,000 after purchasing an additional 399 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 30.3% during the third quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,640 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $421,000 after purchasing an additional 1,546 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Williams Companies

In other news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 12th. The stock was 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 directly owned 302,645 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,319,101.85. This represents a 1.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently issued reports on WMB shares. Tudor Pickering raised Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 1st. Zacks Research cut Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 6th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 4th. TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $69.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Three investment 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 issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $68.29.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

NYSE:WMB opened at $67.30 on Friday. 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 firm has a market cap of $82.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 0.64. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $61.15 and its 200 day moving average price is $60.08. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1-year low of $51.58 and a 1-year high of $68.27.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released its earnings results 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.87 billion. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 16.74% and a net margin of 20.61%.The firm’s revenue was up 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.43 EPS. Williams Companies has set its FY 2025 guidance at 2.010-2.190 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be issued a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.1%. This is a boost from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 103.09%.

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.