Alliancebernstein L.P. Buys 1,551,454 Shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 105.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,024,144 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,551,454 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. owned 0.25% of Williams Companies worth $191,580,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 27.4% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,753,924 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $491,225,000 after buying an additional 1,668,706 shares in the last quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 66.0% in the 3rd quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 106,193 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $6,727,000 after purchasing an additional 42,231 shares during the period. Creative Planning lifted its stake in Williams Companies by 27.9% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 363,247 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $23,012,000 after purchasing an additional 79,190 shares during the last quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Williams Companies by 17.2% during the third quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 2,277 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $144,000 after purchasing an additional 334 shares during the period. Finally, Zacks Investment Management grew its holdings in Williams Companies by 3.0% during the third quarter. Zacks Investment Management now owns 126,379 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $8,006,000 after purchasing an additional 3,665 shares during the period. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Williams Companies stock opened at $73.88 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $90.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.53, a PEG ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 0.63. 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 $76.87. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $68.54 and its 200-day moving average is $63.17.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 10th. The pipeline company reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 posted $0.47 earnings per share. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be given a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. 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 dividend yield of 2.8%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 98.13%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Scotiabank upgraded Williams Companies from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $66.00 to $84.00 in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Williams Companies from $69.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on Williams Companies from $78.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on Williams Companies from $75.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $76.50.

Insider Activity

In related 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 17,230 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,290,699.30. This represents a 36.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Todd J. Rinke sold 7,364 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.39, for a total transaction of $547,807.96. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 26,055 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,938,231.45. This represents a 22.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 48,471 shares of company stock valued at $3,557,023. 0.44% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.