World Investment Advisors Buys 12,508 Shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

World Investment Advisors boosted its stake in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 29.0% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 55,577 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after acquiring an additional 12,508 shares during the period. World Investment Advisors’ holdings in Williams Companies were worth $3,341,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 40.9% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 13,680 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $740,000 after purchasing an additional 3,969 shares during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 5.5% in the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,635 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $291,000 after purchasing an additional 242 shares during the last quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina increased its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 568,928 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $35,734,000 after purchasing an additional 11,926 shares during the last quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC increased its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 3.0% in the 2nd quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 10,248 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $644,000 after purchasing an additional 296 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ieq Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 160.1% in the 2nd quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 165,035 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $10,366,000 after purchasing an additional 101,574 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Truist Financial assumed coverage on Williams Companies in a research note on Tuesday, March 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $84.00 price target on the stock. UBS Group lifted their price target on Williams Companies from $89.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Williams Companies from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, April 5th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Williams Companies from $78.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their price target on Williams Companies from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $82.40.

Insider Transactions at Williams Companies

In related news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.35, for a total transaction of $152,700.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 287,159 shares in the company, valued at $21,924,589.65. The trade was a 0.69% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Glen G. Jasek sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.15, for a total value of $195,375.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 54,101 shares in the company, valued at $4,227,993.15. This represents a 4.42% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 68,500 shares of company stock worth $5,177,835. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Williams Companies Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of WMB stock opened at $71.26 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $87.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.26, a P/E/G ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 0.58. Williams Companies, Inc. has a twelve month low of $55.82 and a twelve month high of $80.07. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $73.38 and its 200 day simple moving average is $69.16.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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%.Williams Companies’s quarterly revenue was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.60 EPS. 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 2.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 29th. Investors of record on Friday, June 12th will be given 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 yield of 2.9%. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is currently 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.