205,503 Shares in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB Acquired by Infrastructure Capital Advisors LLC

Key Points

• Infrastructure Capital Advisors acquired 205,503 Williams Companies shares worth approximately $15.3 million in the second quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds now own 86.44% of the company.
• Williams reported quarterly EPS of $0.50, in line with estimates, while revenue reached $3.05 billion, beating expectations and rising 9.8% year over year. The company also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.525, equivalent to a 3.0% annualized yield.
• Analysts remain broadly positive, with an average “Buy” rating and an $85.60 price target, while Morgan Stanley raised its target to $103. However, US Capital Advisors lowered its 2027 and 2028 EPS forecasts, indicating weaker expected earnings growth.

Infrastructure Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 205,503 shares of the pipeline company's stock, valued at approximately $15,277,000. Williams Companies makes up approximately 0.9% of Infrastructure Capital Advisors LLC's holdings, making the stock its 24th largest position.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the fourth quarter worth $747,749,000. BROOKFIELD Corp ON boosted its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 7,884,730 shares during the period. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP bought a new position in Williams Companies during the 2nd quarter worth about $500,305,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA acquired a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the 2nd quarter valued at about $354,184,000. Finally, Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board bought a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the second quarter valued at about $329,094,000. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Headlines Impacting Williams Companies

Here are the key news stories impacting Williams Companies this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley raised its price target for Williams Companies to $103, signaling substantial potential upside from recent trading levels and providing a constructive counterpoint to the earnings estimate cuts. Morgan Stanley Increases Williams Companies Price Target to $103
• Neutral Sentiment: The company’s latest reported quarter was solid: Williams earned $0.50 per share, matching consensus, while revenue of $3.05 billion exceeded expectations and increased 9.8% year over year. Its fee-based pipeline operations provide relatively stable cash flows.
• Negative Sentiment: US Capital Advisors lowered its EPS forecasts across several periods, including fourth-quarter 2026 EPS to $0.57 from $0.60, first-quarter 2027 EPS to $0.55 from $0.59, second-quarter 2027 EPS to $0.40 from $0.48, and third-quarter 2027 EPS to $0.50 from $0.55.
• Negative Sentiment: The firm also reduced its full-year 2027 EPS estimate to $2.07 from $2.28 and its 2028 forecast to $2.67 from $2.86. These revisions suggest analysts see weaker near- to medium-term earnings growth than previously expected and are likely the main reason the stock has decreased.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Shares of WMB stock opened at $70.71 on Monday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $73.38 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $73.18. Williams Companies, Inc. has a one year low of $56.08 and a one year high of $80.07. The stock has a market cap of $86.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.17, a P/E/G ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83, a current ratio of 0.48 and a quick ratio of 0.43.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 3rd. The pipeline company reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.50. Williams Companies had a net margin of 25.17% and a return on equity of 18.49%. The company had revenue of $3.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.83 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.46 EPS. Williams Companies's revenue for the quarter was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.350-2.350 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.45 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 28th. Investors of record on Friday, September 11th will be paid a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 11th. Williams Companies's dividend payout ratio is 83.67%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Williams Companies from $89.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $99.00 to $103.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 18th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $85.60.

Insider Transactions at Williams Companies

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 13,000 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction on Friday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.87, for a total transaction of $973,310.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 268,159 shares of the company's stock, valued at $20,077,064.33. The trade was a 4.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Over the last three months, insiders sold 17,000 shares of company stock worth $1,262,930. Company insiders own 0.47% of the company's stock.

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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