Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB Shares Purchased by Maryland State Retirement & Pension System

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System raised its position in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 1.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,212,373 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 19,670 shares during the period. Williams Companies accounts for approximately 1.5% of Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings, making the stock its 10th biggest position. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System owned approximately 0.10% of Williams Companies worth $72,876,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Towne Trust Company N.A lifted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 60.2% in the 4th quarter. Towne Trust Company N.A now owns 431 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 162 shares during the period. Motiv8 Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Clearstead Trust LLC lifted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 62.2% in the 4th quarter. Clearstead Trust LLC now owns 485 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 186 shares during the period. Kemnay Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Finally, WHI TRUST Co LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. 86.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on WMB shares. Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce upped their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “outperformer” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $89.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 10th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Williams Companies from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, April 5th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Williams Companies has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $82.40.

Williams Companies Stock Down 0.2%

WMB stock opened at $71.36 on Wednesday. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52-week low of $55.82 and a 52-week high of $80.07. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $73.41 and its 200-day simple moving average is $69.08. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $87.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.30, a P/E/G ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 0.58.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 analyst estimates of $3.28 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.60 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. 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 year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity

In other Williams Companies news, CFO John Dean Porter sold 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief financial officer owned 196,567 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,815,254.79. This represents a 20.28% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Glen G. Jasek sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.15, for a total transaction of $195,375.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 54,101 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,227,993.15. This represents a 4.42% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 68,500 shares of company stock worth $5,177,835 over the last three months. 0.47% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.