Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB Shares Sold by Ascent Group LLC

Ascent Group LLC lessened its holdings in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 13.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 57,729 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 8,735 shares during the quarter. Ascent Group LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $3,470,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Salomon & Ludwin LLC purchased a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the 3rd quarter valued at about $35,000. Financial Life Planners acquired a new position in Williams Companies in the third quarter valued at approximately $36,000. OLD Second National Bank of Aurora increased its stake in Williams Companies by 71.2% in the third quarter. OLD Second National Bank of Aurora now owns 630 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 262 shares during the last quarter. Turning Point Benefit Group Inc. purchased a new position in Williams Companies in the third quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Finally, TruNorth Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Williams Companies during the third quarter worth approximately $48,000. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on WMB. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $80.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Williams Companies from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $69.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $84.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 1st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on Williams Companies from $78.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $77.07.

Williams Companies Price Performance

WMB stock opened at $72.03 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83. The company has a market capitalization of $87.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.66, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.63. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $71.84 and a 200-day simple moving average of $64.66. Williams Companies, Inc. has a twelve month low of $51.58 and a twelve month high of $76.87.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its 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). Williams Companies had a net margin of 21.90% and a return on equity of 17.32%. The business had revenue of $3.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.10 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.47 earnings per share. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate 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 was paid on Monday, March 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 13th were paid a $0.525 dividend. This is a boost from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 13th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 98.13%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams Companies

In other news, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 10,107 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.91, for a total value of $757,115.37. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 17,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,290,699.30. This represents a 36.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 27,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.92, for a total transaction of $1,968,840.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 293,159 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,377,154.28. This trade represents a 8.43% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders have sold 53,369 shares of company stock valued at $3,912,512. Company 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.