Artisan Partners Limited Partnership Reduces Stock Holdings in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Artisan Partners Limited Partnership reduced its holdings in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 10.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 6,246,995 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 707,738 shares during the period. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership owned approximately 0.51% of Williams Companies worth $395,747,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in WMB. Choreo LLC increased its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 1.2% during the third quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 26,255 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,663,000 after acquiring an additional 317 shares in the last quarter. Advisor OS LLC boosted its stake in Williams Companies by 27.2% in the 3rd quarter. Advisor OS LLC now owns 29,578 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,874,000 after purchasing an additional 6,316 shares in the last quarter. Interchange Capital Partners LLC grew its position in Williams Companies by 24.9% during the 3rd quarter. Interchange Capital Partners LLC now owns 7,382 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $468,000 after purchasing an additional 1,474 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in Williams Companies by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 2,706,923 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $171,484,000 after purchasing an additional 64,351 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Westfield Capital Management Co. LP raised its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 13.4% in the third quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 201,065 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $12,737,000 after buying an additional 23,747 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WMB has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $70.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Williams Companies from $69.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Tudor Pickering raised Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 1st. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on Williams Companies from $72.00 to $70.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Williams Companies from $71.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. Two 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Williams Companies has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $75.36.

Williams Companies Trading Up 1.1%

Shares of NYSE:WMB opened at $74.77 on Friday. 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 12-month low of $51.58 and a 12-month high of $75.49. The business has a 50 day moving average of $65.02 and a two-hundred day moving average of $61.66. The company has a market capitalization of $91.34 billion, a PE ratio of 34.94, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 0.65.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $3.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 previous year, the business earned $0.47 EPS. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be issued a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. This is a positive change from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.8%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 93.46%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams Companies

In other news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 27,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.92, for a total transaction of $1,968,840.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 293,159 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,377,154.28. This represents a 8.43% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders have sold a total of 31,000 shares of company stock valued at $2,225,420 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

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.