Lombard Odier Asset Management Switzerland SA Grows Stock Holdings in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Lombard Odier Asset Management Switzerland SA increased its stake in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 28.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 38,290 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,457 shares during the period. Lombard Odier Asset Management Switzerland SA’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $2,787,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in WMB. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Williams Companies by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 133,963,343 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $8,052,537,000 after buying an additional 883,245 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in Williams Companies by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 67,981,106 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $4,086,344,000 after acquiring an additional 1,296,991 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE grew its position in Williams Companies by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 46,053,873 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $2,768,298,000 after acquiring an additional 2,100,164 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its stake in Williams Companies by 11.0% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 33,572,067 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $2,018,017,000 after acquiring an additional 3,314,851 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its position in Williams Companies by 21.3% during the fourth quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 21,325,482 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,281,875,000 after purchasing an additional 3,748,126 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WMB has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $73.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $78.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. Finally, Citigroup increased 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. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $83.56.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams Companies

In related news, CFO John Dean Porter sold 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.37, for a total transaction of $3,768,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 196,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,815,254.79. This trade represents a 20.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the 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 transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 283,159 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,999,071.44. The trade was a 0.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 68,500 shares of company stock worth $5,182,655 over the last 90 days. 0.47% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Williams Companies Trading Down 0.1%

WMB opened at $73.96 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $90.34 billion, a PE ratio of 32.44, a PEG ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 0.57. 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 business has a 50 day moving average of $74.19 and a 200-day moving average of $71.88. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52 week low of $55.82 and a 52 week high of $80.07.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.73 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 net margin of 23.39% and a return on equity of 18.34%. Williams Companies’s quarterly revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.60 earnings per share. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

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