Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC Sells 140,590 Shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lowered its stake in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 43.1% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 185,646 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 140,590 shares during the quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $10,901,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in WMB. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 40.9% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 13,680 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $740,000 after acquiring an additional 3,969 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 8.9% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 37,458 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $2,238,000 after acquiring an additional 3,058 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 27.5% in the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 402,967 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $24,081,000 after acquiring an additional 87,031 shares during the last quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the first quarter worth about $202,000. Finally, Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 10.1% in the first quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 83,190 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $4,971,000 after acquiring an additional 7,600 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on WMB shares. TD Cowen started coverage on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Monday, July 7th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $67.00 target price for the company. Cibc World Mkts upgraded shares of Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 15th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $70.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 2nd. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $63.00 price objective on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Friday, September 19th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $66.00 price objective for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $66.73.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.62, for a total transaction of $115,240.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 311,645 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,956,984.90. This represents a 0.64% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Larry C. Larsen sold 4,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.47, for a total transaction of $263,115.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 77,612 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,537,973.64. This represents a 5.48% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 8,500 shares of company stock valued at $497,715 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

NYSE:WMB opened at $62.39 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $76.08 billion, a PE ratio of 31.35, a P/E/G ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $59.95 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $59.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.54. Williams Companies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $51.34 and a fifty-two week high of $65.55.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released its earnings results on Monday, August 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.46 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $2.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.90 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 21.63% and a return on equity of 16.23%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.43 EPS. Williams Companies has set its FY 2025 guidance at 2.010-2.190 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 12th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 12th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 100.50%.

Williams Companies Company Profile

The Williams Companies, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an energy infrastructure company primarily in the United States. It operates through Transmission & Gulf of Mexico, Northeast G&P, West, and Gas & NGL Marketing Services segments. The Transmission & Gulf of Mexico segment comprises natural gas pipelines; Transco, Northwest pipeline, MountainWest, and related natural gas storage facilities; and natural gas gathering and processing, and crude oil production handling and transportation assets in the Gulf Coast region.