Graybill Wealth Management LTD. Sells 24,240 Shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Graybill Wealth Management LTD. decreased its stake in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 23.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 80,734 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 24,240 shares during the period. Williams Companies accounts for about 1.6% of Graybill Wealth Management LTD.’s portfolio, making the stock its 28th largest holding. Graybill Wealth Management LTD.’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $5,114,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Salomon & Ludwin LLC acquired a new stake in Williams Companies during the third quarter worth approximately $35,000. Financial Life Planners acquired a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the third quarter valued at approximately $36,000. South Plains Financial Inc. increased its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 289.7% during the second quarter. South Plains Financial Inc. now owns 608 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 452 shares during the period. OLD Second National Bank of Aurora increased its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 71.2% during the third quarter. OLD Second National Bank of Aurora now owns 630 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 262 shares during the period. Finally, Turning Point Benefit Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Williams Companies during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $46,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on WMB. UBS Group upped their price objective on Williams Companies from $78.00 to $89.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Scotiabank raised shares of Williams Companies from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $66.00 to $84.00 in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Zacks Research raised shares of Williams Companies from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $70.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $69.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Williams Companies presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $76.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Todd J. Rinke sold 7,364 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.39, for a total value of $547,807.96. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 26,055 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,938,231.45. This trade represents a 22.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 10,107 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, 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 position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 51,369 shares of company stock valued at $3,769,012 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Shares of Williams Companies stock opened at $73.68 on Wednesday. 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 company has a market cap of $90.00 billion, a PE ratio of 34.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a 50 day moving average of $68.83 and a 200-day moving average of $63.28. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1-year low of $51.58 and a 1-year high of $76.87.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 10th. The pipeline company reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by ($0.02). Williams Companies had a net margin of 21.90% and a return on equity of 17.32%. The firm had revenue of $3.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.10 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.47 earnings per share. 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 fiscal year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

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

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.