MAI Capital Management Acquires 13,691 Shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

MAI Capital Management boosted its holdings in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 31.5% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 57,165 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after buying an additional 13,691 shares during the period. MAI Capital Management’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $3,621,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Hartford Funds Management Co LLC bought a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the 2nd quarter valued at $29,000. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp purchased a new position in Williams Companies during the 2nd quarter valued at about $32,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new position in Williams Companies during the 2nd quarter valued at about $35,000. Salomon & Ludwin LLC bought a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the third quarter valued at about $35,000. Finally, Aspect Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 81.3% in the second quarter. Aspect Partners LLC now owns 582 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 261 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 10,107 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 17,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,290,699.30. This represents a 36.97% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 27,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 293,159 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,377,154.28. This represents a 8.43% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 41,107 shares of company stock worth $2,982,535 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. 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 research note on Wednesday, November 5th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $69.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Scotiabank raised shares of Williams Companies from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $66.00 to $84.00 in a report on Friday, February 13th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on Williams Companies from $78.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their target price on Williams Companies from $69.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $75.36.

Williams Companies Stock Down 0.0%

Shares of NYSE:WMB opened at $74.75 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $91.31 billion, a PE ratio of 34.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.53. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52-week low of $51.58 and a 52-week high of $75.59. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $65.35 and a 200 day moving average of $61.78.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 10th. The pipeline company reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.57 by ($0.02). Williams Companies had a return on equity of 17.32% and a net margin of 21.90%.The firm had revenue of $3.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.10 billion. During the same period 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, research analysts anticipate that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be paid a $0.525 dividend. This is an increase from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is currently 93.46%.

Williams Companies 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.