Cohen & Steers Inc. Raises Stock Position in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Cohen & Steers Inc. grew its holdings in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 13.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,428,129 shares of the pipeline company's stock after acquiring an additional 757,958 shares during the period. Cohen & Steers Inc. owned about 0.53% of Williams Companies worth $386,395,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Towne Trust Company N.A grew its holdings in Williams Companies by 60.2% during the 4th quarter. Towne Trust Company N.A now owns 431 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 162 shares in the last quarter. Clearstead Trust LLC lifted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 62.2% in the fourth quarter. Clearstead Trust LLC now owns 485 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 186 shares in the last quarter. First Command Advisory Services Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 216.8% in the fourth quarter. First Command Advisory Services Inc. now owns 491 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 336 shares in the last quarter. WHI TRUST Co LLC acquired a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Larry C. Larsen sold 12,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.48, for a total value of $917,760.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 98,219 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,511,789.12. This represents a 10.89% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.35, for a total transaction of $152,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 287,159 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $21,924,589.65. This represents a 0.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 68,500 shares of company stock valued at $5,177,835. Company insiders own 0.47% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WMB has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded Williams Companies from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Sunday, April 5th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Williams Companies from $78.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Williams Companies from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price target on Williams Companies from $82.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Truist Financial assumed coverage on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Tuesday, March 24th. They set a "buy" rating and a $84.00 price objective for the company. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $82.40.

Williams Companies Trading Up 0.4%

NYSE WMB opened at $71.92 on Friday. Williams Companies, Inc. has a one year low of $55.82 and a one year high of $80.07. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $73.44 and a 200-day simple moving average of $68.85. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $87.86 billion, a PE ratio of 31.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 0.58.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last posted 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 net margin of 23.39% and a return on equity of 18.34%. The business had revenue of $3.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.28 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.60 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.44 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, June 29th. Investors of record on Friday, June 12th will be issued a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 12th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. Williams Companies's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 92.11%.

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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