Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS Reduces Stock Position in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Key Points

• Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS cut its Williams Companies stake by 6.6% in the first quarter, selling 138,173 shares and leaving it with 1,954,680 shares worth about $142.3 million.
• Several analysts remain positive on WMB, with TD Cowen, Truist, Citigroup, and Barclays updating ratings or price targets; the stock’s consensus rating is Buy with an average target price of $83.50.
• Williams Companies reported quarterly EPS of $0.73, beating estimates, and recently paid a $0.525 quarterly dividend, equal to a 2.8% yield, though insiders have also been selling shares.

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS reduced its position in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 6.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,954,680 shares of the pipeline company's stock after selling 138,173 shares during the period. Williams Companies comprises approximately 0.7% of Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS's holdings, making the stock its 22nd biggest holding. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS owned 0.16% of Williams Companies worth $142,262,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH purchased a new stake in Williams Companies in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $4,627,000. Gabelli Funds LLC raised its stake in Williams Companies by 7.4% during the fourth quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 261,000 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $15,689,000 after purchasing an additional 17,900 shares during the period. SIR Capital Management L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 40.0% in the 4th quarter. SIR Capital Management L.P. now owns 525,232 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $31,572,000 after purchasing an additional 150,032 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 21.0% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,105,570 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $125,839,000 after buying an additional 365,546 shares during the period. Finally, Stephens Inc. AR increased its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 8.9% during the 4th quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 164,900 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $9,912,000 after buying an additional 13,438 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Larry C. Larsen sold 12,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.48, for a total transaction 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 trade represents a 10.89% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO John Dean Porter sold 50,000 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 196,567 shares in the company, valued at $14,815,254.79. This trade represents a 20.28% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 68,500 shares of company stock worth $5,182,655. Company insiders own 0.47% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on WMB. TD Cowen lifted their target price on Williams Companies from $81.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Truist Financial assumed coverage on Williams Companies in a research note on Tuesday, March 24th. They set a "buy" rating and a $84.00 price target for the company. Wall Street Zen lowered Williams Companies from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Saturday, July 4th. Barclays boosted 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. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $83.50.

Williams Companies Stock Down 0.6%

NYSE:WMB traded down $0.43 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $75.02. The company had a trading volume of 4,016,695 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,439,942. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $74.34 and a 200-day simple moving average of $70.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $91.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.90, a PEG ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 0.57. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $55.82 and a 1 year high of $80.07. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.73 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $3.03 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.28 billion. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 18.34% and a net margin of 23.39%.The company's revenue was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.60 earnings per share. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 12th were given a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 12th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.8%. 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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