Legato Capital Management LLC Buys Shares of 14,595 Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Legato Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 14,595 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $877,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Towne Trust Company N.A boosted its stake in Williams Companies by 60.2% during the 4th quarter. Towne Trust Company N.A now owns 431 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 162 shares during the period. WHI TRUST Co LLC bought a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. Entrust Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Financial Life Planners bought a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the 3rd quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, Turning Point Benefit Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the 3rd quarter worth about $46,000. 86.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Larry C. Larsen sold 12,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.48, for a total transaction of $917,760.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 98,219 shares in the company, valued at $7,511,789.12. The trade was a 10.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.35, for a total transaction of $152,700.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 287,159 shares in the company, valued at $21,924,589.65. This represents a 0.69% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders sold 90,869 shares of company stock worth $6,845,227. Company insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Stock Down 0.1%

NYSE WMB opened at $78.41 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $73.74 and its 200 day simple moving average is $67.66. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12 month low of $55.82 and a 12 month high of $80.07. The company has a market capitalization of $95.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.39, a PEG ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 0.61.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released its earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.73 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.10. Williams Companies had a net margin of 23.39% and a return on equity of 18.34%. The business had revenue of $3.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.28 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.60 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 29th. Investors of record on Friday, June 12th will be issued a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 12th. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is presently 92.11%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on WMB. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Williams Companies from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Truist Financial began coverage on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Tuesday, March 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $84.00 price target on the stock. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $89.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $82.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Williams Companies from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $82.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $81.00.

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.