ABN Amro Investment Solutions Buys 8,812 Shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

ABN Amro Investment Solutions lifted its position in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 14.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 69,980 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after buying an additional 8,812 shares during the quarter. ABN Amro Investment Solutions’ holdings in Williams Companies were worth $5,093,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of WMB. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH purchased a new position in Williams Companies during the fourth quarter valued at $4,627,000. Gabelli Funds LLC grew its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 7.4% in the fourth quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 261,000 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $15,689,000 after acquiring an additional 17,900 shares during the last quarter. SIR Capital Management L.P. increased its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 40.0% during the fourth quarter. SIR Capital Management L.P. now owns 525,232 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $31,572,000 after acquiring an additional 150,032 shares in the last quarter. Stephens Inc. AR increased its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 8.9% during the fourth quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 164,900 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $9,912,000 after acquiring an additional 13,438 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Williams Companies by 56.3% in the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 57,550 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $3,459,000 after purchasing an additional 20,740 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO John Dean Porter sold 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.37, for a total value of $3,768,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 196,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,815,254.79. This represents a 20.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Larry C. Larsen sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.48, for a total value of $917,760.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 98,219 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,511,789.12. This represents a 10.89% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 68,500 shares of company stock valued at $5,182,655. 0.47% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:WMB opened at $74.50 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $74.31 and its 200-day moving average price is $71.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $91.01 billion, a PE ratio of 32.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 0.57. Williams Companies, Inc. has a twelve month low of $55.82 and a twelve month high of $80.07. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.73 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.10. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 18.34% and a net margin of 23.39%.The firm had revenue of $3.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.28 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.60 EPS. Williams Companies’s revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.44 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 29th. Investors of record on Friday, June 12th were paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 12th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.8%. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is 92.11%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on WMB. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $82.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $88.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $98.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Citigroup upped their price objective on Williams Companies from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, TD Cowen increased their target price on Williams Companies from $81.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $83.56.

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.