Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB Position Lessened by Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund reduced its stake in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 61.0% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 16,706 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 26,149 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $1,058,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 40.9% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 13,680 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $740,000 after purchasing an additional 3,969 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in Williams Companies by 5.5% during the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,635 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $291,000 after acquiring an additional 242 shares in the last quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC boosted its position in Williams Companies by 33.9% during the 2nd quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 4,615 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $267,000 after acquiring an additional 1,168 shares during the period. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale grew its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 16.2% in the second quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 255,493 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $16,166,000 after purchasing an additional 35,541 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Phoenix Financial Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 50.8% during the second quarter. Phoenix Financial Ltd. now owns 69,079 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $4,339,000 after purchasing an additional 23,273 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on WMB shares. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $78.00 to $89.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Scotiabank upgraded shares of Williams Companies from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $66.00 to $84.00 in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Mizuho raised Williams Companies to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 27th. Citigroup increased their price target on Williams Companies from $70.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Williams Companies from $71.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 11th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $75.36.

More Williams Companies News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Management raised its 2026 guidance and increased the dividend as key projects advance—management framed this as evidence of stronger cash generation and capital-allocation capacity, which supports the yield and valuation. Williams Companies Raises 2026 Outlook And Dividend As Projects Advance
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst Day reiterated a growth thesis: WMB is guiding to 10%+ CAGR in adjusted EBITDA to 2030 driven by power, transmission and pipeline projects (including behind‑the‑meter power), giving investors visibility on long‑term earnings and project-backed cash flow. WMB Analyst Day: Power And Pipe To Drive Robust Growth
• Positive Sentiment: Broker support lifted: UBS bumped its price target to $89 (buy) and Jefferies raised its target to $81 (buy), signaling analyst confidence and creating potential upside from current levels. Benzinga coverage of analyst price-target raises
• Neutral Sentiment: Macro context: natural gas prices have fallen ~60% to near $3, which pressures commodity-linked earnings in the near term, but Zacks notes tight storage and LNG demand keep pipeline names like WMB in focus for a rebound—mixed near-term headwinds vs. longer-term demand support. Should Investors Buy Natural Gas After a 60% Price Collapse?
• Neutral Sentiment: Market-structure note: coverage flagged WMB in S&P 500 filing activity, which can drive flows or rebalancing attention but is not an operational development. Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) Gains Attention Amid S&P 500 Filings
• Neutral Sentiment: Recent price action recap: commentary noted a recent weekly surge in WMB shares driven by the catalyst set (guidance, analyst day, and upgrades), useful context but not new news. The Williams Companies (WMB) Surged This Week. Here is Why

Williams Companies Price Performance

NYSE WMB opened at $72.20 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $51.58 and a 1 year high of $73.04. The company has a market cap of $88.17 billion, a PE ratio of 33.74, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.65. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $63.34 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $61.07.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 10th. The pipeline company reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) 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 firm had revenue of $3.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.10 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.47 EPS. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 30th. Investors of record on Friday, March 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This is a positive change from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is 93.46%.

Insider Activity

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.39, for a total value of $132,780.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 293,545 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,488,452.55. This represents a 0.68% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies 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.