8,429 Shares in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB Acquired by Verity & Verity LLC

Verity & Verity LLC purchased a new position in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMBFree Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 8,429 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $507,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Essex Financial Services Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc. now owns 13,994 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $841,000 after acquiring an additional 515 shares during the period. Founders Financial Securities LLC grew its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 23.8% in the 4th quarter. Founders Financial Securities LLC now owns 60,239 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $3,621,000 after acquiring an additional 11,570 shares during the period. MUFG Securities EMEA plc grew its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 833.2% in the 4th quarter. MUFG Securities EMEA plc now owns 218,120 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $13,111,000 after acquiring an additional 194,746 shares during the period. Texas Yale Capital Corp. grew its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Texas Yale Capital Corp. now owns 73,217 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $4,401,000 after acquiring an additional 1,315 shares during the period. Finally, Guinness Atkinson Asset Management Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the 4th quarter worth approximately $299,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Williams Companies

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Todd J. Rinke sold 7,364 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.39, for a total transaction of $547,807.96. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 26,055 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,938,231.45. This represents a 22.04% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO John Dean Porter sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.37, for a total value of $3,768,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 196,567 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,815,254.79. This represents a 20.28% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 80,762 shares of company stock worth $6,088,112. Company insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on Williams Companies from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 10th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Williams Companies from $80.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 13th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce upped their target price on Williams Companies from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “outperformer” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Finally, Scotiabank upped their target price 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 analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $82.40.

View Our Latest Report on Williams Companies

Williams Companies Price Performance

WMB stock opened at $71.41 on Friday. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $55.82 and a 1 year high of $80.07. The firm has a market cap of $87.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.32, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 0.61. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $73.77 and its 200 day moving average price is $68.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.83.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMBGet Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 18.34% and a net margin of 23.39%.The company had revenue of $3.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.28 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.60 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 12th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 92.11%.

Williams Companies Company Profile

(Free Report)

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.

Further Reading

Institutional Ownership by Quarter for Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB)

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