Aberdeen Group plc Boosts Holdings in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Aberdeen Group plc lifted its holdings in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 3.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,763,084 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after acquiring an additional 64,026 shares during the quarter. Aberdeen Group plc owned 0.14% of Williams Companies worth $105,979,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in WMB. Salomon & Ludwin LLC purchased a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the third quarter worth about $35,000. Financial Life Planners purchased a new stake in Williams Companies during the 3rd quarter valued at about $36,000. OLD Second National Bank of Aurora boosted its holdings in Williams Companies by 71.2% during the 3rd quarter. OLD Second National Bank of Aurora now owns 630 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 262 shares during the period. Turning Point Benefit Group Inc. bought a new position in Williams Companies during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $46,000. Finally, TruNorth Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Williams Companies during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $48,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on WMB. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Williams Companies from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $69.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Citigroup upped their price target 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $80.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Williams Companies currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $77.07.

Insider Activity at Williams Companies

In related 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 value of $1,968,840.00. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 10,107 shares of Williams Companies 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 sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 17,230 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,290,699.30. The trade was a 36.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 53,369 shares of company stock worth $3,912,512 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Shares of Williams Companies stock opened at $72.03 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $71.70 and a 200 day moving average of $64.48. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52 week low of $51.58 and a 52 week high of $76.87. The company has a market cap of $87.98 billion, a PE ratio of 33.66, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a quick ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83.

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 company had revenue of $3.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.10 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 21.90% and a return on equity of 17.32%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.47 EPS. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 30th. Investors of record on Friday, March 13th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This is an increase from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 13th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 98.13%.

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.