Swiss National Bank Has $222.97 Million Holdings in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Swiss National Bank trimmed its position in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 3,519,700 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 175,500 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $222,973,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of WMB. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 1.5% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 133,075,340 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $8,358,462,000 after acquiring an additional 1,912,156 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in Williams Companies by 27.3% during the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 14,417,821 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $905,583,000 after purchasing an additional 3,089,390 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Williams Companies in the 2nd quarter valued at $765,164,000. BROOKFIELD Corp ON raised its position in Williams Companies by 190.3% in the 2nd quarter. BROOKFIELD Corp ON now owns 12,028,186 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $755,490,000 after purchasing an additional 7,884,730 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc boosted its stake in Williams Companies by 9.9% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 10,056,234 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $631,632,000 after purchasing an additional 903,457 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on WMB shares. UBS Group raised their target price on Williams Companies from $78.00 to $89.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Scotiabank raised shares of Williams Companies from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $66.00 to $84.00 in a report on Friday, February 13th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $71.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a 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 issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $75.86.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 10,107 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 26th. The stock was 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 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 document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.24, for a total value of $150,480.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 291,159 shares in the company, valued at $21,906,803.16. The trade was a 0.68% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 41,107 shares of company stock valued at $3,009,215. 0.44% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Williams Companies Stock Down 1.5%

Shares of NYSE WMB opened at $73.13 on Tuesday. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $51.58 and a 1 year high of $76.87. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $67.21 and its 200-day moving average is $62.59. The company has a current ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $89.33 billion, a PE ratio of 34.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.63.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 10th. The pipeline company reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by ($0.02). Williams Companies had a return on equity of 17.32% and a net margin of 21.90%.The business 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 earnings per share. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 is Friday, March 13th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. This is an increase from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is 93.46%.

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.