Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Has $622.70 Million Stake in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Key Points

• Dimensional Fund Advisors cut its Williams Companies stake by 10.3% in the first quarter, but still held 8.56 million shares valued at about $622.7 million.
• Several large institutional investors remain heavily invested in WMB, and 86.44% of the stock is owned by institutions and hedge funds.
• Williams Companies beat earnings expectations with $0.73 EPS versus the $0.63 estimate, while analysts remain broadly positive with an average “Buy” rating and a target price of $83.56.

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP reduced its holdings in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 10.3% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,555,932 shares of the pipeline company's stock after selling 982,745 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned approximately 0.70% of Williams Companies worth $622,698,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Williams Companies by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 133,963,343 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $8,052,537,000 after acquiring an additional 883,245 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Williams Companies by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 67,981,106 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $4,086,344,000 after purchasing an additional 1,296,991 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE grew its position in Williams Companies by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 46,053,873 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $2,768,298,000 after purchasing an additional 2,100,164 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 11.0% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 33,572,067 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $2,018,017,000 after purchasing an additional 3,314,851 shares during the period. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 21.3% during the 4th quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 21,325,482 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $1,281,875,000 after purchasing an additional 3,748,126 shares during the period. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO John Dean Porter sold 50,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.37, for a total transaction of $3,768,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 196,567 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $14,815,254.79. This trade represents a 20.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Glen G. Jasek sold 2,500 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.15, for a total transaction of $195,375.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 54,101 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,227,993.15. This trade represents a 4.42% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 68,500 shares of company stock worth $5,182,655. Company insiders own 0.47% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Williams Companies from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Williams Companies from $88.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Wall Street Zen raised Williams Companies from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce raised their price objective on Williams Companies from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an "outperformer" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted 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 equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $83.56.

Williams Companies Trading Down 0.0%

Shares of WMB opened at $73.34 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99. The stock has a market cap of $89.60 billion, a PE ratio of 32.17, a PEG ratio of 1.80 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 stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $74.37 and a 200-day simple moving average of $71.40.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.73 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.28 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.60 earnings per share. The business's 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. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 12th were issued a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 12th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. Williams Companies's dividend payout ratio is presently 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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