Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC Sells 52,231 Shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Key Points

• Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC cut its Williams Companies stake by 17% in Q4, selling 52,231 shares and leaving it with 254,192 shares valued at about $15.3 million.
• Insiders also sold stock, including CFO John Dean Porter’s sale of 50,000 shares; insiders have sold 80,762 shares over the last 90 days.
• Williams Companies beat earnings expectations with Q1 EPS of $0.73 versus $0.63 expected, and the company also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.525 per share, implying a 2.9% yield.

Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC reduced its holdings in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 17.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 254,192 shares of the pipeline company's stock after selling 52,231 shares during the quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC's holdings in Williams Companies were worth $15,279,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Towne Trust Company N.A grew its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 60.2% during the fourth quarter. Towne Trust Company N.A now owns 431 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 162 shares in the last quarter. Clearstead Trust LLC grew its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 62.2% during the fourth quarter. Clearstead Trust LLC now owns 485 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 186 shares in the last quarter. WHI TRUST Co LLC bought a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Entrust Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, Financial Life Planners bought a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the third quarter worth about $36,000. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO John Dean Porter sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.37, for a total transaction of $3,768,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 196,567 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $14,815,254.79. This represents a 20.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Todd J. Rinke sold 7,364 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.39, for a total value of $547,807.96. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 26,055 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,938,231.45. The trade was a 22.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 80,762 shares of company stock valued at $6,088,112. Corporate insiders own 0.47% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently issued reports on WMB. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Williams Companies from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, April 10th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Friday, March 27th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Williams Companies from $80.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, March 13th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce increased their price objective on Williams Companies from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an "outperformer" rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Williams Companies from $78.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $82.40.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE WMB opened at $71.41 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $73.77 and a 200 day moving average price of $68.03. 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 quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $87.23 billion, a PE ratio of 31.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 0.61.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.73 EPS 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 firm had revenue of $3.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.28 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.60 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. Analysts predict that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 12th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. Williams Companies's dividend payout ratio 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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