American Century Companies Inc. Purchases 737,973 Shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 12.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 6,782,278 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after acquiring an additional 737,973 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. owned approximately 0.56% of Williams Companies worth $429,658,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Argent Trust Co grew its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 6.1% in the third quarter. Argent Trust Co now owns 92,352 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $5,851,000 after acquiring an additional 5,306 shares in the last quarter. Keystone Investors PTE Ltd. lifted its holdings in Williams Companies by 1,737.3% during the third quarter. Keystone Investors PTE Ltd. now owns 75,439 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $4,779,000 after acquiring an additional 71,333 shares during the period. Quantbot Technologies LP boosted its position in Williams Companies by 4.2% in the third quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 300,330 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $19,026,000 after purchasing an additional 12,112 shares during the last quarter. Caitlin John LLC bought a new position in Williams Companies in the 3rd quarter valued at $77,000. Finally, Gentry Private Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of Williams Companies by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Gentry Private Wealth LLC now owns 9,578 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $607,000 after purchasing an additional 199 shares during the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on WMB. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $78.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Citigroup raised their target price on Williams Companies from $70.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. TD Cowen increased their price target on Williams Companies from $69.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 6th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Williams Companies from $69.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on Williams Companies from $78.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Williams Companies presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $75.36.

Insider Transactions at Williams Companies

In other news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 27,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.92, for a total value of $1,968,840.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 293,159 shares in the company, valued at $21,377,154.28. The trade was a 8.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 10,107 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.91, for a total value of $757,115.37. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 17,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,290,699.30. This represents a 36.97% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 41,107 shares of company stock worth $2,982,535. Insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Price Performance

WMB stock opened at $74.75 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83, a current ratio of 0.53 and a quick ratio of 0.48. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $51.58 and a 1 year high of $75.59. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $65.35 and a 200 day moving average of $61.78. The company has a market cap of $91.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.93, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.65.

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

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be paid a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. This is an increase from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is 93.46%.

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.