State Street Corp Purchases 1,296,991 Shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 1.9% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 67,981,106 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,296,991 shares during the quarter. State Street Corp owned about 0.06% of Williams Companies worth $4,086,344,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Towne Trust Company N.A boosted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 60.2% during the 4th quarter. Towne Trust Company N.A now owns 431 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 162 shares during the period. Clearstead Trust LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 62.2% during the 4th quarter. Clearstead Trust LLC now owns 485 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 186 shares during the period. First Command Advisory Services Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 216.8% during the 4th quarter. First Command Advisory Services Inc. now owns 491 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 336 shares during the period. WHI TRUST Co LLC acquired a new stake in Williams Companies in the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Williams Companies in the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of Williams Companies stock opened at $71.92 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $87.86 billion, a PE ratio of 31.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $73.44 and its 200 day moving average is $68.85. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $55.82 and a 1 year high of $80.07.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.73 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $3.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.28 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.60 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WMB has been the topic of several research reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Friday, March 27th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $78.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Williams Companies from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $82.00 price target on the stock in a report on Monday, April 20th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 10th. Four 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $82.40.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO John Dean Porter sold 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.37, for a total value of $3,768,500.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 196,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,815,254.79. This represents a 20.28% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.35, for a total transaction of $152,700.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 287,159 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,924,589.65. This represents a 0.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 68,500 shares of company stock valued at $5,177,835. Company insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

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.