Empowered Funds LLC Buys 11,728 Shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Empowered Funds LLC grew its stake in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 8.8% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 145,432 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after buying an additional 11,728 shares during the quarter. Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $9,135,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Flaharty Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Williams Companies in the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. Hartford Funds Management Co LLC acquired a new position in Williams Companies during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Private Wealth Management Group LLC boosted its holdings in Williams Companies by 104.8% in the second quarter. Private Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 469 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 240 shares in the last quarter. Saudi Central Bank acquired a new stake in Williams Companies in the first quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp acquired a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the second quarter worth approximately $32,000. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on WMB shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Williams Companies from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 8th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Friday, October 17th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $72.00 to $70.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $74.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 30th. Finally, Mizuho upgraded Williams Companies to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Williams Companies has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $68.21.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.53, for a total value of $242,120.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 302,645 shares in the company, valued at $18,319,101.85. This represents a 1.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Stock Down 0.6%

Williams Companies stock opened at $58.82 on Thursday. Williams Companies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $51.58 and a fifty-two week high of $65.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.54. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $60.76 and its 200 day simple moving average is $59.45. The stock has a market cap of $71.83 billion, a PE ratio of 29.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 0.64.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its earnings results on Monday, November 3rd. The pipeline company reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.51 by ($0.02). Williams Companies had a return on equity of 16.23% and a net margin of 21.63%.The firm had revenue of $2.92 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.87 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.43 EPS. Williams Companies’s quarterly revenue was up 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Williams Companies has set its FY 2025 guidance at 2.010-2.190 EPS. Research analysts predict that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 29th. Investors of record on Friday, December 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 12th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 103.09%.

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.