Cohen Investment Advisors LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Cohen Investment Advisors LLC lowered its position in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 7.2% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,708 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 600 shares during the quarter. Cohen Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $484,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System lifted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 6.3% in the second quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System now owns 1,159,547 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $72,831,000 after purchasing an additional 68,855 shares in the last quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 3.8% in the second quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 6,435 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $404,000 after purchasing an additional 238 shares in the last quarter. Joel Isaacson & Co. LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the second quarter valued at about $202,000. Roundview Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the second quarter valued at about $250,000. Finally, KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS lifted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 3.5% in the second quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS now owns 502,710 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $31,575,000 after purchasing an additional 16,800 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Williams Companies

In related news, COO Larry C. Larsen sold 4,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.47, for a total transaction of $263,115.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 77,612 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,537,973.64. This represents a 5.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.62, for a total transaction of $115,240.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 311,645 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,956,984.90. This represents a 0.64% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 8,500 shares of company stock valued at $497,715 in the last ninety days. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Shares of WMB stock opened at $63.49 on Thursday. Williams Companies, Inc. has a one year low of $48.71 and a one year high of $65.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.54. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $59.44 and a 200 day moving average price of $59.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $77.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.65.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.46 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.49 by ($0.03). Williams Companies had a return on equity of 16.23% and a net margin of 21.63%.The company had revenue of $2.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.90 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.43 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.0% on a year-over-year basis. Williams Companies has set its FY 2025 guidance at 2.010-2.190 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 29th. Investors of record on Friday, September 12th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 12th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.2%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is 100.50%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on WMB. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $63.00 price target on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $59.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Cibc World Mkts raised shares of Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 15th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $74.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Williams Companies presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $65.53.

Williams Companies Company Profile

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.