Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Makes New Investment in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 130,557 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,848,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Guinness Asset Management LTD acquired a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the 4th quarter worth approximately $6,634,000. Americana Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Williams Companies by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Americana Partners LLC now owns 455,136 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $27,358,000 after purchasing an additional 5,672 shares during the last quarter. Legato Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the 4th quarter worth approximately $877,000. Advisory Alpha LLC increased its position in shares of Williams Companies by 17.9% during the 4th quarter. Advisory Alpha LLC now owns 6,034 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $363,000 after purchasing an additional 915 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Axxcess Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Williams Companies by 116.7% during the 4th quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 64,564 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $3,881,000 after purchasing an additional 34,773 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. Wolfe Research raised Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Williams Companies from $78.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Zacks Research raised Williams Companies from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Williams Companies from $80.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 13th. 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 company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $81.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO John Dean Porter sold 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.37, for a total value of $3,768,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 196,567 shares in the company, valued at $14,815,254.79. The trade was 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 Glen G. Jasek sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.15, for a total value of $195,375.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 54,101 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,227,993.15. This trade represents a 4.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 117,869 shares of company stock worth $8,814,067 over the last three months. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Williams Companies Stock Down 0.1%

WMB stock opened at $78.41 on Monday. 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 has a market capitalization of $95.78 billion, a PE ratio of 34.39, a PEG ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 0.61. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1-year low of $55.82 and a 1-year high of $80.07. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $73.64 and its 200 day simple moving average is $67.51.

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. The business had revenue of $3.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.28 billion. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 18.34% and a net margin of 23.39%.The firm’s revenue was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.60 EPS. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.43 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. Investors of record on Friday, June 12th will be paid a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 12th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.7%. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is 92.11%.

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.