Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB Position Cut by United Asset Strategies Inc.

United Asset Strategies Inc. lowered its holdings in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 4.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 69,824 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 3,083 shares during the period. United Asset Strategies Inc.’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $4,386,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WMB. Wealth Alliance LLC grew its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 1.5% in the second quarter. Wealth Alliance LLC now owns 26,181 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,644,000 after purchasing an additional 385 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp raised its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 6.0% during the second quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 746,037 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $46,859,000 after purchasing an additional 41,959 shares in the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. grew its position in Williams Companies by 3.1% in the 2nd quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 9,503 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $597,000 after buying an additional 287 shares in the last quarter. Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC acquired a new position in Williams Companies during the 2nd quarter valued at about $649,000. Finally, National Pension Service increased its stake in Williams Companies by 36.7% during the 2nd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 3,831,474 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $240,655,000 after buying an additional 1,029,106 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Williams Companies

In other news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.62, for a total transaction of $115,240.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 311,645 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,956,984.90. The trade was a 0.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 8th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on Williams Companies from $72.00 to $70.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. Mizuho raised Williams Companies to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 27th. CIBC upgraded Williams Companies from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and set a $64.00 price objective for the company in a report on Friday, August 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Williams Companies from $70.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Williams Companies has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $67.86.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Shares of WMB opened at $60.57 on Wednesday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $60.50 and a two-hundred day moving average of $59.43. The stock has a market cap of $73.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.44, a PEG ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73, a current ratio of 0.54 and a quick ratio of 0.48. Williams Companies, Inc. has a one year low of $51.58 and a one year high of $65.55.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 3rd. The pipeline company reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.51 by ($0.02). Williams Companies had a net margin of 21.63% and a return on equity of 16.23%. The firm had revenue of $2.92 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.87 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.43 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Williams Companies has set its FY 2025 guidance at 2.010-2.190 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 12th will be given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 12th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 103.09%.

About Williams Companies

The Williams Companies, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an energy infrastructure company primarily in the United States. It operates through Transmission & Gulf of Mexico, Northeast G&P, West, and Gas & NGL Marketing Services segments. The Transmission & Gulf of Mexico segment comprises natural gas pipelines; Transco, Northwest pipeline, MountainWest, and related natural gas storage facilities; and natural gas gathering and processing, and crude oil production handling and transportation assets in the Gulf Coast region.