Legal & General Group Plc Buys Shares of 8,018,260 Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Legal & General Group Plc bought a new stake in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 8,018,260 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $596,077,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Apella Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 2.3% during the second quarter. Apella Capital LLC now owns 5,988 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $450,000 after buying an additional 134 shares during the last quarter. Mirador Capital Partners LP boosted its stake in Williams Companies by 0.9% in the second quarter. Mirador Capital Partners LP now owns 16,153 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,201,000 after acquiring an additional 140 shares during the last quarter. Aletheian Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Williams Companies by 3.8% in the second quarter. Aletheian Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,830 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $285,000 after acquiring an additional 140 shares during the last quarter. Mill Creek Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Williams Companies by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Mill Creek Capital Advisors LLC now owns 6,000 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $361,000 after acquiring an additional 141 shares during the period. Finally, Eagle Bay Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Williams Companies by 5.2% during the 2nd quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC now owns 2,986 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $222,000 after acquiring an additional 148 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Trading Up 0.7%

WMB opened at $71.02 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $73.37 and its two-hundred day moving average is $73.20. The firm has a market cap of $86.87 billion, a PE ratio of 28.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.59. Williams Companies, Inc. has a twelve month low of $56.08 and a twelve month high of $80.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.48.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The pipeline company reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.50. Williams Companies had a net margin of 25.17% and a return on equity of 18.49%. The company had revenue of $3.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.83 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.46 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.350-2.350 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.45 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 11th will be paid a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 11th. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is presently 83.67%.

Insider Transactions at Williams Companies

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 13,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.87, for a total value of $973,310.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 268,159 shares in the company, valued at $20,077,064.33. This represents a 4.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders sold 17,000 shares of company stock valued at $1,262,930 over the last ninety days. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on WMB shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Williams Companies from $89.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Williams Companies from $78.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on Williams Companies from $83.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their target price on Williams Companies from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $85.60.

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.