Adams Natural Resources Fund Inc. Purchases 21,900 Shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Key Points

• Adams Natural Resources Fund boosted its stake in Williams Companies by 5.0% in the first quarter, adding 21,900 shares and bringing its total holding to 457,450 shares worth about $33.3 million.
• Williams Companies has been seeing bullish analyst sentiment, with multiple firms raising price targets and the stock carrying a consensus Buy rating and average target of $82.40.
• The company reported better-than-expected earnings for the latest quarter, declared a $0.525 quarterly dividend, and shares were trading near $78, close to their 52-week high.

Adams Natural Resources Fund Inc. raised its position in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 5.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 457,450 shares of the pipeline company's stock after purchasing an additional 21,900 shares during the period. Williams Companies accounts for about 3.9% of Adams Natural Resources Fund Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest position. Adams Natural Resources Fund Inc.'s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $33,293,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Towne Trust Company N.A raised its position in Williams Companies by 60.2% during the fourth quarter. Towne Trust Company N.A now owns 431 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 162 shares in the last quarter. Motiv8 Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the 4th quarter worth $27,000. Clearstead Trust LLC raised its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 62.2% during the 4th quarter. Clearstead Trust LLC now owns 485 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 186 shares in the last quarter. Kemnay Advisory Services Inc. bought a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, WHI TRUST Co LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on Williams Companies from $82.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Williams Companies from $78.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Williams Companies from $80.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, March 13th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised Williams Companies from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $82.40.

Williams Companies Stock Up 0.6%

WMB stock opened at $78.00 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $95.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a 50-day moving average of $73.82 and a two-hundred day moving average of $69.78. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52-week low of $55.82 and a 52-week high of $80.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.76.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.73 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.10. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 18.34% and a net margin of 23.39%.The business had revenue of $3.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.28 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.60 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.44 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 12th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.7%. Williams Companies's payout ratio is 92.11%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Glen G. Jasek sold 2,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.15, for a total transaction of $195,375.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 54,101 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,227,993.15. The trade was a 4.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.35, for a total transaction of $152,700.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 287,159 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $21,924,589.65. The trade was a 0.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 68,500 shares of company stock valued at $5,177,835 over the last ninety days. 0.47% of the stock is owned by 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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