18,851 Shares in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB Bought by South Shore Capital Advisors

Key Points

• South Shore Capital Advisors opened a new position in Williams (NYSE:WMB), buying 18,851 shares worth about $1.13 million, roughly 0.8% of the fund and its 24th-largest holding.
• Q4 results: Williams reported $0.55 EPS (missed by $0.02) and $3.20B revenue (beat estimates), set FY2026 guidance of 2.200–2.380 EPS, and analyst sentiment has strengthened to a Moderate Buy with an average target of $77.33 after several price-target raises.
• Dividend & ownership: The quarterly dividend was raised to $0.525 ($2.10 annual, 2.9% yield) despite a high payout ratio of 98.13%; institutional investors hold about 86.4% of the stock while insiders have been net sellers recently.

South Shore Capital Advisors bought a new position in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 18,851 shares of the pipeline company's stock, valued at approximately $1,133,000. Williams Companies comprises about 0.8% of South Shore Capital Advisors' portfolio, making the stock its 24th biggest position.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 15.9% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 48,586,299 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $3,077,942,000 after acquiring an additional 6,668,950 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 14,575,898 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $923,383,000 after acquiring an additional 158,077 shares during the last quarter. BROOKFIELD Corp ON grew its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 190.3% in the 2nd quarter. BROOKFIELD Corp ON now owns 12,028,186 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $755,490,000 after acquiring an additional 7,884,730 shares during the last quarter. Amundi grew its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 5.3% during the third quarter. Amundi now owns 9,600,016 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $610,369,000 after buying an additional 481,082 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 30.4% during the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,073,602 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $574,856,000 after buying an additional 2,116,526 shares in the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Williams Companies Price Performance

WMB opened at $72.59 on Tuesday. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $51.58 and a 1 year high of $76.87. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $72.01 and a 200 day moving average price of $64.74. The stock has a market cap of $88.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.92, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a current ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 10th. The pipeline company reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.57 by ($0.02). Williams Companies had a return on equity of 17.32% and a net margin of 21.90%.The company had revenue of $3.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.10 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.47 EPS. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. Analysts forecast that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on WMB shares. UBS Group lifted their price target on Williams Companies from $78.00 to $89.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on Williams Companies from $78.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Williams Companies from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, March 2nd. Wall Street Zen upgraded Williams Companies from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Sunday. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Williams Companies presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $77.33.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.75, for a total value of $143,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 289,159 shares of the company's stock, valued at $20,747,158.25. The trade was a 0.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Todd J. Rinke sold 7,364 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.39, for a total value of $547,807.96. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly 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 disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 53,369 shares of company stock worth $3,912,512 over the last ninety days. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Williams Companies

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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