Arax Advisory Partners Decreases Stock Position in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Key Points

• Arax Advisory Partners cut its Williams Companies stake by 76.9% in the fourth quarter, selling 80,265 shares and leaving it with 24,092 shares valued at about $1.45 million.
• Analysts remain generally bullish on WMB, with several firms raising price targets and the consensus rating sitting at Buy with an average target of $82.40.
• Williams Companies reported quarterly EPS of $0.73, beating estimates, and recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.525 per share for a 2.9% annualized yield.

Arax Advisory Partners lessened its stake in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 76.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 24,092 shares of the pipeline company's stock after selling 80,265 shares during the quarter. Arax Advisory Partners' holdings in Williams Companies were worth $1,448,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. UMB Bank n.a. raised its position in shares of Williams Companies by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 15,309 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $920,000 after purchasing an additional 148 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Williams Companies by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 12,646 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $760,000 after acquiring an additional 149 shares in the last quarter. Great Diamond Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Williams Companies by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Great Diamond Partners LLC now owns 34,870 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $2,096,000 after acquiring an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. Betterment LLC raised its position in shares of Williams Companies by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Betterment LLC now owns 4,766 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $286,000 after acquiring an additional 154 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. raised its position in shares of Williams Companies by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 24,611 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $1,479,000 after acquiring an additional 158 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Williams Companies from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $82.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 20th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on Williams Companies from $81.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce increased their price target on Williams Companies from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an "outperformer" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Wall Street Zen raised Williams Companies from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Sunday, April 5th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised Williams Companies from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Williams Companies has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $82.40.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Shares of WMB stock opened at $71.43 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The firm has a market cap of $87.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.33, a PEG ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 0.58. The stock's 50-day moving average is $73.42 and its two-hundred day moving average is $69.00. Williams Companies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $55.82 and a fifty-two week high of $80.07.

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

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 29th. Investors of record on Friday, June 12th will be given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 12th. Williams Companies's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 92.11%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Larry C. Larsen sold 12,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.48, for a total transaction of $917,760.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 98,219 shares in the company, valued at $7,511,789.12. The trade was a 10.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.35, for a total value of $152,700.00. Following the sale, 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 position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 68,500 shares of company stock worth $5,177,835 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.47% of the company's stock.

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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