Aberdeen Group plc Sells 93,557 Shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Aberdeen Group plc trimmed its holdings in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 5.2% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,699,058 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 93,557 shares during the quarter. Aberdeen Group plc owned 0.14% of Williams Companies worth $107,635,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Williams Companies by 1.5% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 133,075,340 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $8,358,462,000 after purchasing an additional 1,912,156 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in Williams Companies by 27.3% during the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 14,417,821 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $905,583,000 after buying an additional 3,089,390 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the 2nd quarter valued at $765,164,000. BROOKFIELD Corp ON boosted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 190.3% in the 2nd quarter. BROOKFIELD Corp ON now owns 12,028,186 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $755,490,000 after buying an additional 7,884,730 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc grew its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 9.9% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 10,056,234 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $631,632,000 after acquiring an additional 903,457 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Williams Companies this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Scotiabank upgraded WMB from “sector perform” to “sector outperform” and raised its price target to $84, signaling stronger conviction and a material upside from recent levels. Scotiabank upgrades Williams Companies (WMB)
• Positive Sentiment: Citigroup raised its price target to $81 and moved to a “buy” view — another major analyst endorsement that supports further upside and likely helped buying interest. Citigroup raises WMB price target to $81 (Benzinga)
• Positive Sentiment: Stifel Nicolaus increased its target to $78 and kept a “buy” rating, adding to the cluster of positive analyst revisions and reinforcing expectations for near-term share appreciation. Stifel raises WMB target to $78 (Benzinga)
• Neutral Sentiment: Investor/Analyst Day transcript (Seeking Alpha) provided management commentary and strategic detail that investors can use to vet guidance and capital-allocation priorities; such details help underpin analyst re-ratings but are informational rather than immediately catalytic. The Williams Companies, Inc. (WMB) Analyst/Investor Day Transcript
• Neutral Sentiment: A Benzinga retrospective on 10‑year returns is informational for long-term investors but unlikely to move shares materially today. If You Invested $100 In Williams Companies…
• Negative Sentiment: Q4 results: Williams slightly missed EPS estimates (reported EPS below consensus) though revenue beat; management flagged 2026 growth capital of $6.1–$6.7B and maintenance capex of $850–$950M — higher near-term spending that could pressure free cash flow and put focus on funding and returns. Williams Companies Q4 Earnings Miss Estimates, Revenues Beat (Zacks)

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.39, for a total transaction of $132,780.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 293,545 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,488,452.55. This trade represents a 0.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

NYSE WMB opened at $72.29 on Monday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $62.69 and its 200-day moving average price is $60.82. Williams Companies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $51.58 and a fifty-two week high of $72.63. The company has a market cap of $88.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.78, a P/E/G ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.53.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 10th. The pipeline company reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by ($0.02). Williams Companies had a net margin of 21.90% and a return on equity of 17.32%. The company had revenue of $3.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.10 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.47 EPS. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be given a dividend of $0.525 per share. 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 2.9%. This is an increase from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is presently 93.46%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on WMB. Scotiabank raised Williams Companies from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $66.00 to $84.00 in a report on Friday. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on Williams Companies from $72.00 to $70.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Williams Companies from $70.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Monday, January 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $71.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 11th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $74.21.

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.