National Pension Service Raises Position in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

National Pension Service increased its stake in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 1.1% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,873,861 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after buying an additional 42,387 shares during the quarter. National Pension Service owned about 0.32% of Williams Companies worth $245,409,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

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

Williams Companies Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of NYSE WMB opened at $67.30 on Friday. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12-month low of $51.58 and a 12-month high of $68.27. The company 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 company has a current ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $61.15 and its 200 day simple moving average is $60.08.

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

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. This is a positive change from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 103.09%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WMB has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Zacks Research lowered Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 6th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 13th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $69.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 6th. Finally, UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Monday, January 12th. 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 assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $68.29.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

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.