Norges Bank Takes $747.75 Million Position in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 12,439,677 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $747,749,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Towne Trust Company N.A raised its position in shares of Williams Companies by 60.2% in the fourth 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. Clearstead Trust LLC raised its position in shares of Williams Companies by 62.2% in the fourth 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. WHI TRUST Co LLC acquired a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Entrust Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, Financial Life Planners acquired a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the third quarter worth about $36,000. 86.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on WMB. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $81.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 10th. Citigroup 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 report on Friday, May 8th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. Finally, 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 report on Tuesday, May 12th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $82.40.

Insider Transactions at Williams Companies

In other news, COO Larry C. Larsen sold 12,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.48, for a total value of $917,760.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 98,219 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,511,789.12. This represents a 10.89% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Todd J. Rinke sold 7,364 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.39, for a total transaction of $547,807.96. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 26,055 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,938,231.45. This trade represents a 22.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 80,762 shares of company stock worth $6,088,112. 0.47% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Williams Companies Stock Down 2.4%

Shares of NYSE WMB opened at $71.41 on Friday. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12-month low of $55.82 and a 12-month high of $80.07. The stock has a market cap of $87.23 billion, a PE ratio of 31.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 0.61. 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 company has a 50-day moving average of $73.77 and a 200 day moving average of $68.03.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.73 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.28 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.60 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

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 paid a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 12th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is 92.11%.

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.