Aviva PLC Acquires 85,338 Shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Key Points

• Aviva PLC increased its stake in Williams Companies by 5.6% in the fourth quarter, adding 85,338 shares and bringing its total holdings to 1,615,352 shares valued at about $97.1 million.
• Wall Street sentiment remains upbeat, with multiple firms raising price targets and analysts giving Williams Companies a consensus “Buy” rating and average target price of $82.40.
• Williams Companies reported mixed quarterly results and continues to pay a dividend: it beat EPS estimates at $0.73 per share, but revenue came in below expectations, while announcing a quarterly dividend of $0.525 per share for a 2.9% yield.

Aviva PLC grew its holdings in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 5.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,615,352 shares of the pipeline company's stock after buying an additional 85,338 shares during the period. Aviva PLC owned approximately 0.13% of Williams Companies worth $97,099,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of WMB. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in Williams Companies by 40.9% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in Williams Companies by 5.5% in the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,635 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $291,000 after purchasing an additional 242 shares in the last quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina increased its stake in Williams Companies by 2.1% in the second quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 568,928 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $35,734,000 after purchasing an additional 11,926 shares in the last quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC increased its stake in Williams Companies by 3.0% in the second quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 10,248 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $644,000 after purchasing an additional 296 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ieq Capital LLC increased its stake in Williams Companies by 160.1% in the second quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 165,035 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $10,366,000 after purchasing an additional 101,574 shares in the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on WMB shares. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $78.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Weiss Ratings reissued a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. Truist Financial assumed coverage on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Tuesday, March 24th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $84.00 price target for the company. Finally, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce lifted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an "outperformer" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Williams Companies has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $82.40.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Williams Companies news, COO Larry C. Larsen sold 12,000 shares of the firm'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 transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 98,219 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,511,789.12. This trade represents a 10.89% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of Williams Companies 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 in the company, valued at $21,924,589.65. The trade was a 0.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 68,500 shares of company stock valued at $5,177,835 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.47% of the company's stock.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:WMB opened at $71.66 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $73.43 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $68.83. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1-year low of $55.82 and a 1-year high of $80.07. The stock has a market cap of $87.54 billion, a PE ratio of 31.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 0.58.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.73 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 analysts' expectations of $3.28 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.60 EPS. The business's revenue 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, analysts forecast that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

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