Comerica Bank Reduces Stake in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Key Points

• Comerica Bank cut its stake in Williams Companies by 4.3% in Q4, selling 16,876 shares and now holding 375,443 shares valued at about $22.57 million.
• Several large institutions significantly increased positions—Brookfield up 190.3% to 12.03 million shares, Wellington holds 48.59 million shares and SG Americas added roughly 3.63 million shares—and institutional ownership stands at 86.44%.
• Insiders have been net sellers (53,369 shares worth ~$3.91 million over the last 90 days), while analysts show an overall Buy consensus with an average price target of $78.60 and individual targets up to $90.

Comerica Bank decreased its stake in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 4.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 375,443 shares of the pipeline company's stock after selling 16,876 shares during the period. Comerica Bank's holdings in Williams Companies were worth $22,568,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in WMB. BROOKFIELD Corp ON increased its stake in Williams Companies by 190.3% in the 2nd quarter. BROOKFIELD Corp ON now owns 12,028,186 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $755,490,000 after acquiring an additional 7,884,730 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in Williams Companies by 15.9% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 48,586,299 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $3,077,942,000 after acquiring an additional 6,668,950 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its holdings in Williams Companies by 4,992.2% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 3,704,739 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $222,692,000 after acquiring an additional 3,631,986 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Williams Companies by 30.4% during the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,073,602 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $574,856,000 after acquiring an additional 2,116,526 shares during the period. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in Williams Companies by 27.4% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,753,924 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $491,225,000 after buying an additional 1,668,706 shares during the period. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Williams Companies

In related news, SVP Payvand Fazel sold 2,898 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction on Friday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.15, for a total value of $211,988.70. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 31,766 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,323,682.90. The trade was a 8.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 10,107 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.91, for a total value of $757,115.37. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 17,230 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,290,699.30. The trade was a 36.97% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 53,369 shares of company stock worth $3,912,512. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Shares of WMB opened at $71.62 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83, a current ratio of 0.53 and a quick ratio of 0.48. Williams Companies, Inc. has a one year low of $55.82 and a one year high of $76.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $87.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.47, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 0.63. The business has a fifty day moving average of $73.01 and a 200 day moving average of $65.67.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 10th. The pipeline company reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.57 by ($0.02). Williams Companies had a return on equity of 17.32% and a net margin of 21.90%.The firm had revenue of $3.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.10 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.47 EPS. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.41 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in 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. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Williams Companies from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Sunday, April 5th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Williams Companies from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Williams Companies from $70.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on Williams Companies from $78.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, April 6th. 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $78.60.

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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