ABN Amro Investment Solutions Boosts Holdings in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Key Points

• ABN Amro Investment Solutions dramatically increased its stake in Williams Companies, boosting holdings by 1,507.6% to 61,168 shares valued at about $3.68 million.
• Several analysts turned more positive on the stock, including a Wolfe Research upgrade to strong-buy and higher price targets from Morgan Stanley, Wells Fargo, and Stifel Nicolaus. The overall analyst consensus is now a Buy with an average target of $81.
• Williams Companies reported Q1 earnings of $0.73 per share, beating estimates, and it announced a quarterly dividend of $0.525 per share, implying a 2.7% yield.

ABN Amro Investment Solutions increased its stake in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 1,507.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 61,168 shares of the pipeline company's stock after buying an additional 57,363 shares during the period. ABN Amro Investment Solutions' holdings in Williams Companies were worth $3,677,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Towne Trust Company N.A lifted its holdings in Williams Companies by 60.2% in the fourth quarter. Towne Trust Company N.A now owns 431 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 162 shares during the period. WHI TRUST Co LLC acquired a new stake in Williams Companies in the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Entrust Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Williams Companies in the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Financial Life Planners acquired a new stake in Williams Companies in the 3rd quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, Turning Point Benefit Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Williams Companies during the third quarter valued at about $46,000. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Todd J. Rinke sold 7,364 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 owned 26,055 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,938,231.45. This represents a 22.04% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 27,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.92, for a total value of $1,968,840.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 293,159 shares in the company, valued at $21,377,154.28. The trade was a 8.43% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 117,869 shares of company stock worth $8,814,067 in the last three months. 0.47% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Wolfe Research raised shares of Williams Companies from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $80.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, March 13th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $78.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Williams Companies from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Sunday, April 5th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $81.00.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Williams Companies stock opened at $78.41 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $73.64 and a 200 day simple moving average of $67.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12-month low of $55.82 and a 12-month high of $80.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $95.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.39, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.61.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.73 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $3.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.28 billion. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 18.34% and a net margin of 23.39%.The company's quarterly revenue was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.60 EPS. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 29th. Investors 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.7%. Williams Companies's payout ratio is currently 92.11%.

Williams Companies 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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