Wedbush Securities Inc. Sells 11,938 Shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Wedbush Securities Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 35.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 21,496 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 11,938 shares during the quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc.’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $1,362,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Williams Companies by 1.5% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 133,075,340 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $8,358,462,000 after purchasing an additional 1,912,156 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 27.3% during the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 14,417,821 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $905,583,000 after buying an additional 3,089,390 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the 2nd quarter worth about $765,164,000. BROOKFIELD Corp ON grew its stake in Williams Companies by 190.3% in the 2nd quarter. BROOKFIELD Corp ON now owns 12,028,186 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $755,490,000 after buying an additional 7,884,730 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc raised its holdings in Williams Companies by 9.9% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 10,056,234 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $631,632,000 after acquiring an additional 903,457 shares during the period. 86.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Williams Companies

In related news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.39, for a total transaction of $132,780.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 293,545 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,488,452.55. This represents a 0.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Key Stories Impacting Williams Companies

Here are the key news stories impacting Williams Companies this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Scotiabank upgraded WMB from “sector perform” to “sector outperform” and raised its price target to $84, signaling stronger conviction and a material upside from recent levels. Scotiabank upgrades Williams Companies (WMB)
• Positive Sentiment: Citigroup raised its price target to $81 and moved to a “buy” view — another major analyst endorsement that supports further upside and likely helped buying interest. Citigroup raises WMB price target to $81 (Benzinga)
• Positive Sentiment: Stifel Nicolaus increased its target to $78 and kept a “buy” rating, adding to the cluster of positive analyst revisions and reinforcing expectations for near-term share appreciation. Stifel raises WMB target to $78 (Benzinga)
• Neutral Sentiment: Investor/Analyst Day transcript (Seeking Alpha) provided management commentary and strategic detail that investors can use to vet guidance and capital-allocation priorities; such details help underpin analyst re-ratings but are informational rather than immediately catalytic. The Williams Companies, Inc. (WMB) Analyst/Investor Day Transcript
• Neutral Sentiment: A Benzinga retrospective on 10‑year returns is informational for long-term investors but unlikely to move shares materially today. If You Invested $100 In Williams Companies…
• Negative Sentiment: Q4 results: Williams slightly missed EPS estimates (reported EPS below consensus) though revenue beat; management flagged 2026 growth capital of $6.1–$6.7B and maintenance capex of $850–$950M — higher near-term spending that could pressure free cash flow and put focus on funding and returns. Williams Companies Q4 Earnings Miss Estimates, Revenues Beat (Zacks)

Williams Companies Stock Performance

NYSE:WMB opened at $72.29 on Friday. Williams Companies, Inc. has a twelve month low of $51.58 and a twelve month high of $72.63. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $62.69 and its 200 day simple moving average is $60.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $88.28 billion, a PE ratio of 33.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 0.65.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 10th. The pipeline company reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $3.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.10 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 21.90% and a return on equity of 17.32%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.47 earnings per share. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. This is a positive change from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 93.46%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on WMB shares. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on Williams Companies from $71.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Zacks Research upgraded Williams Companies from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. Mizuho upgraded Williams Companies to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 27th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Williams Companies from $71.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Scotiabank upgraded Williams Companies from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $66.00 to $84.00 in a research note on Friday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Williams Companies has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $74.21.

Williams Companies Company 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.