Advisors Capital Management LLC Purchases 21,066 Shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Key Points

• Advisors Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Williams Companies by 2.8%, acquiring an additional 21,066 shares for a total of 772,456 shares valued at approximately $46.16 million.
• Company insiders sold a total of 10,500 shares worth $623,115 over the last quarter, indicating a slight decrease in ownership, with insiders now holding just 0.44% of the firm's stock.
• The latest analyst reports show a mix of ratings for Williams Companies, with Wall Street Zen downgrading it to a "sell" while Cibc World Markets upgraded it to a "strong buy," reflecting varied sentiment among analysts.

Advisors Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 2.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 772,456 shares of the pipeline company's stock after buying an additional 21,066 shares during the period. Advisors Capital Management LLC owned approximately 0.06% of Williams Companies worth $46,162,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of WMB. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 40.9% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 13,680 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $740,000 after purchasing an additional 3,969 shares during the last quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 11.0% in the 4th quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 7,460 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $404,000 after purchasing an additional 740 shares during the last quarter. Napa Wealth Management lifted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Napa Wealth Management now owns 7,190 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $389,000 after purchasing an additional 190 shares during the last quarter. Obermeyer Wealth Partners bought a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $208,000. Finally, OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp lifted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 23.8% in the 4th quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp now owns 52,426 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $2,837,000 after purchasing an additional 10,085 shares during the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.62, for a total value of $115,240.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 311,645 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,956,984.90. This trade represents a 0.64% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Larry C. Larsen sold 4,500 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction on Monday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.47, for a total value of $263,115.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 77,612 shares in the company, valued at $4,537,973.64. This represents a 5.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 10,500 shares of company stock worth $623,115 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.44% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wall Street Zen cut Williams Companies from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Saturday, August 9th. Cibc World Mkts upgraded Williams Companies from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, August 15th. TD Cowen initiated coverage on Williams Companies in a research report on Monday, July 7th. They set a "buy" rating and a $67.00 target price for the company. CIBC upgraded Williams Companies from a "neutral" rating to a "sector outperform" rating and set a $64.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, August 15th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded Williams Companies from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research report on Friday, June 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $62.86.

Williams Companies Trading Up 1.9%

WMB opened at $58.68 on Thursday. The stock's fifty day moving average is $58.02 and its two-hundred day moving average is $58.38. The company has a market capitalization of $71.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.49, a PEG ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.65. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52 week low of $43.98 and a 52 week high of $63.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.46 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.49 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $2.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.90 billion. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 16.23% and a net margin of 21.63%.The company's revenue for the quarter was up 19.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.43 earnings per share. Williams Companies has set its FY 2025 guidance at 2.010-2.190 EPS. Analysts forecast that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 12th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 12th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.4%. Williams Companies's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 100.50%.

Williams Companies Profile

The Williams Companies, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an energy infrastructure company primarily in the United States. It operates through Transmission & Gulf of Mexico, Northeast G&P, West, and Gas & NGL Marketing Services segments. The Transmission & Gulf of Mexico segment comprises natural gas pipelines; Transco, Northwest pipeline, MountainWest, and related natural gas storage facilities; and natural gas gathering and processing, and crude oil production handling and transportation assets in the Gulf Coast region.

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