ING Groep NV Raises Stock Holdings in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

ING Groep NV boosted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 108.4% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 328,925 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 171,055 shares during the period. ING Groep NV’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $19,772,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Towne Trust Company N.A boosted its position in Williams Companies by 60.2% during the fourth quarter. Towne Trust Company N.A now owns 431 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 162 shares in the last quarter. Clearstead Trust LLC boosted its position in Williams Companies by 62.2% during the fourth quarter. Clearstead Trust LLC now owns 485 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 186 shares in the last quarter. First Command Advisory Services Inc. boosted its position in Williams Companies by 216.8% during the fourth quarter. First Command Advisory Services Inc. now owns 491 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 336 shares in the last quarter. WHI TRUST Co LLC purchased a new position in Williams Companies during the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, Entrust Financial LLC purchased a new position in Williams Companies during the fourth quarter worth approximately $31,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO John Dean Porter sold 50,000 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.37, for a total transaction of $3,768,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 196,567 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,815,254.79. This trade represents a 20.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Glen G. Jasek sold 2,500 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.15, for a total value of $195,375.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 54,101 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,227,993.15. The trade was a 4.42% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 78,762 shares of company stock valued at $5,937,632 in the last 90 days. 0.47% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on WMB shares. Scotiabank increased their price target on Williams Companies from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Wolfe Research upgraded Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. TD Cowen increased their price target on Williams Companies from $81.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Citigroup raised their target price on Williams Companies from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Williams Companies currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $82.40.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

NYSE WMB opened at $72.00 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $87.95 billion, a PE ratio of 31.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 0.58. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $73.55 and its 200-day simple moving average is $68.48. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1-year low of $55.82 and a 1-year high of $80.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.76.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released its earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.73 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $3.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.28 billion. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 18.34% and a net margin of 23.39%.The business’s quarterly revenue was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.60 earnings per share. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 12th will be given a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 12th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 92.11%.

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.