Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund Decreases Stake in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund lessened its holdings in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 53.6% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 429,104 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 496,573 shares during the quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $31,230,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bollard Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 10.1% during the 1st quarter. Bollard Group LLC now owns 61,869 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $4,503,000 after purchasing an additional 5,652 shares during the last quarter. Compound Planning Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 12.4% in the first quarter. Compound Planning Inc. now owns 20,529 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,494,000 after purchasing an additional 2,259 shares during the last quarter. Klingman & Associates LLC lifted its position in Williams Companies by 4.4% during the first quarter. Klingman & Associates LLC now owns 3,743 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $272,000 after buying an additional 159 shares in the last quarter. Modern Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Williams Companies by 5.9% during the first quarter. Modern Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,538 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $685,000 after buying an additional 531 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Keebeck Wealth Management boosted its stake in Williams Companies by 18.2% during the first quarter. Keebeck Wealth Management now owns 39,372 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $2,865,000 after buying an additional 6,071 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Williams Companies

In related news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.16, for a total value of $148,320.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 283,159 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,999,071.44. This trade represents a 0.70% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Larry C. Larsen sold 12,000 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.48, for a total transaction of $917,760.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 98,219 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,511,789.12. This trade represents a 10.89% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 68,500 shares of company stock valued at $5,182,655 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

NYSE WMB opened at $73.96 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $74.19 and a 200-day simple moving average of $71.88. 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 stock has a market cap of $90.34 billion, a PE ratio of 32.44, a P/E/G ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 0.57. Williams Companies, Inc. has a twelve month low of $55.82 and a twelve month high of $80.07.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.73 earnings per share (EPS) 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 firm had revenue of $3.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.28 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.60 EPS. Williams Companies’s revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 12th were paid a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 12th. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is 92.11%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have issued reports on WMB shares. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $82.00 target price on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Tuesday, July 14th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $87.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Williams Companies from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 18th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $98.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 14th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Williams Companies has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $83.56.

About Williams Companies

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.