ABC Arbitrage SA Buys Shares of 34,815 Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Key Points

• ABC Arbitrage SA opened a new position in Williams Companies, buying 34,815 shares valued at about $2.09 million in the fourth quarter.
• Williams Companies beat quarterly earnings expectations, reporting $0.73 EPS versus the $0.63 consensus, though revenue came in below estimates at $3.03 billion.
• Analysts remain upbeat on the stock, with multiple firms raising price targets to $83 and MarketBeat showing a consensus Buy rating with an average target of $80.27.

ABC Arbitrage SA purchased a new position in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 34,815 shares of the pipeline company's stock, valued at approximately $2,093,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in WMB. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. grew its position in shares of Williams Companies by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 24,611 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $1,479,000 after buying an additional 158 shares during the last quarter. Towne Trust Company N.A grew its stake in Williams Companies by 60.2% during the 4th quarter. Towne Trust Company N.A now owns 431 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 162 shares during the last quarter. Courier Capital LLC increased its position in Williams Companies by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Courier Capital LLC now owns 47,466 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $2,853,000 after buying an additional 162 shares in the last quarter. LRI Investments LLC raised its stake in Williams Companies by 8.8% in the third quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 2,169 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $137,000 after buying an additional 176 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bryn Mawr Trust Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Williams Companies by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Bryn Mawr Trust Advisors LLC now owns 4,264 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $256,000 after acquiring an additional 184 shares in the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on WMB. Weiss Ratings restated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $82.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Williams Companies from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, April 10th. 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's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $80.27.

Williams Companies Trading Up 3.1%

Williams Companies stock opened at $74.16 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $90.60 billion, a PE ratio of 32.53, a P/E/G ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 0.61. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12 month low of $55.82 and a 12 month high of $77.41. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $73.16 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $66.30. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.10. Williams Companies had a net margin of 23.39% and a return on equity of 18.34%. The firm had revenue of $3.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.28 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.60 EPS. The business's revenue was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 12th will be given a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 12th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.8%. Williams Companies's dividend payout ratio is 92.11%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams Companies

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Payvand Fazel sold 2,898 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.15, for a total value of $211,988.70. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 31,766 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,323,682.90. This trade represents a 8.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 10,107 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.91, for a total value of $757,115.37. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 17,230 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,290,699.30. This trade represents a 36.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 103,369 shares of company stock worth $7,700,932. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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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