14,708 Shares in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB Acquired by Cliftonlarsonallen Wealth Advisors LLC

Key Points

• Cliftonlarsonallen Wealth Advisors LLC opened a new position in Williams Companies by purchasing 14,708 shares, valued at approximately $884,000 in the fourth quarter.
• Several analysts have raised price targets and ratings; WMB's consensus is a Moderate Buy with an average target of $77.33.
• Williams raised its quarterly dividend to $0.525 (annualized $2.10) for a 2.9% yield, though the payout ratio is high at 98.13%.

Cliftonlarsonallen Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 14,708 shares of the pipeline company's stock, valued at approximately $884,000.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Salomon & Ludwin LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $35,000. Financial Life Planners bought a new position in Williams Companies in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $36,000. OLD Second National Bank of Aurora lifted its stake in Williams Companies by 71.2% in the 3rd quarter. OLD Second National Bank of Aurora now owns 630 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 262 shares during the last quarter. Turning Point Benefit Group Inc. bought a new position in Williams Companies in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Finally, TruNorth Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Williams Companies in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $48,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WMB has been the subject of several research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $78.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $70.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Williams Companies from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Sunday, April 5th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $78.00 to $89.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Williams Companies from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $77.33.

Williams Companies Price Performance

WMB stock opened at $72.83 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $72.42 and a 200-day moving average price of $64.95. The company has a market capitalization of $88.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.03, a PEG ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 0.63. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52-week low of $53.63 and a 52-week high of $76.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.53.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 10th. The pipeline company reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.57 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $3.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.10 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 21.90% and a return on equity of 17.32%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.47 EPS. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th were paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 13th. This is an increase from Williams Companies's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. Williams Companies's payout ratio is 98.13%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams Companies

In other news, SVP Todd J. Rinke sold 7,364 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.39, for a total transaction of $547,807.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 26,055 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,938,231.45. This trade represents a 22.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Payvand Fazel sold 2,898 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.15, for a total transaction of $211,988.70. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 31,766 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,323,682.90. The trade was a 8.36% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 53,369 shares of company stock worth $3,912,512 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.47% of the company's stock.

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.

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