Bank of Nova Scotia Purchases New Stake in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Key Points

• Bank of Nova Scotia acquired 1.69 million Williams Companies shares worth approximately $125.5 million in the second quarter, giving it a 0.14% stake. Institutional investors collectively own 86.44% of WMB.
• Williams reported solid quarterly results, with revenue rising 9.8% year over year to $3.05 billion and EPS of $0.50 matching consensus estimates. The company also declared a $0.525 quarterly dividend, equivalent to a 3.0% annualized yield.
• Analyst sentiment remains broadly positive, with a consensus “Buy” rating and an $85.60 price target, although US Capital Advisors lowered its 2027 and 2028 EPS forecasts. An insider also sold 13,000 shares for approximately $973,000.

Bank of Nova Scotia acquired a new position in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 1,688,039 shares of the pipeline company's stock, valued at approximately $125,489,000. Bank of Nova Scotia owned 0.14% of Williams Companies as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 40.9% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 13,680 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $740,000 after buying an additional 3,969 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 5.5% in the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,635 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $291,000 after acquiring an additional 242 shares during the last quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina lifted its holdings in shares of 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 worth $35,734,000 after acquiring an additional 11,926 shares during the last quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC boosted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 3.0% in the 2nd 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 grew its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 160.1% during the 2nd 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 during the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Williams Companies News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Williams Companies this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley raised its price target for Williams Companies to $103, signaling substantial potential upside from recent trading levels and providing a constructive counterpoint to the earnings estimate cuts. Morgan Stanley Increases Williams Companies Price Target to $103
• Neutral Sentiment: The company’s latest reported quarter was solid: Williams earned $0.50 per share, matching consensus, while revenue of $3.05 billion exceeded expectations and increased 9.8% year over year. Its fee-based pipeline operations provide relatively stable cash flows.
• Negative Sentiment: US Capital Advisors lowered its EPS forecasts across several periods, including fourth-quarter 2026 EPS to $0.57 from $0.60, first-quarter 2027 EPS to $0.55 from $0.59, second-quarter 2027 EPS to $0.40 from $0.48, and third-quarter 2027 EPS to $0.50 from $0.55.
• Negative Sentiment: The firm also reduced its full-year 2027 EPS estimate to $2.07 from $2.28 and its 2028 forecast to $2.67 from $2.86. These revisions suggest analysts see weaker near- to medium-term earnings growth than previously expected and are likely the main reason the stock has decreased.

Insider Activity at Williams Companies

In other news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 13,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.87, for a total value of $973,310.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 268,159 shares of the company's stock, valued at $20,077,064.33. This represents a 4.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 17,000 shares of company stock worth $1,262,930. 0.47% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $81.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Barclays upped their target price on Williams Companies from $73.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Williams Companies from $89.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce upped their price objective on Williams Companies from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an "outperformer" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $83.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, August 10th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $85.60.

Williams Companies Price Performance

WMB stock opened at $70.71 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $73.38 and its 200 day simple moving average is $73.13. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12-month low of $56.08 and a 12-month high of $80.07. The firm has a market cap of $86.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.17, a PEG ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 0.58.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The pipeline company reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.50. The firm had revenue of $3.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.83 billion. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 18.49% and a net margin of 25.17%.The company's revenue for the quarter was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.46 EPS. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.350-2.350 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 11th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.0%. Williams Companies's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 83.67%.

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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