EP Wealth Advisors LLC Takes $1.66 Million Position in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

EP Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 22,347 shares of the pipeline company's stock, valued at approximately $1,661,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Cynosure Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the second quarter valued at approximately $647,000. Gabelli Funds LLC lifted its position in Williams Companies by 7.4% in the 4th quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 261,000 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $15,689,000 after acquiring an additional 17,900 shares in the last quarter. SIR Capital Management L.P. boosted its stake in Williams Companies by 40.0% during 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. Stephens Inc. AR boosted its stake in Williams Companies by 8.9% during the 4th quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 164,900 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $9,912,000 after purchasing an additional 13,438 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 56.3% in the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 57,550 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $3,459,000 after purchasing an additional 20,740 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Williams Companies

In other news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 13,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.87, for a total transaction of $973,310.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 268,159 shares of the company's stock, valued at $20,077,064.33. This represents a 4.62% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 17,000 shares of company stock worth $1,262,930. 0.47% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on WMB shares. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "buy" rating and issued a $82.00 price target on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Tuesday, July 14th. Barclays increased their price objective on Williams Companies from $73.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on Williams Companies from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 12th. Weiss Ratings reissued a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $89.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $85.60.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

WMB stock opened at $70.71 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83, a current ratio of 0.48 and a quick ratio of 0.43. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $56.08 and a 1 year high of $80.07. The company has a market cap of $86.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 0.58. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $73.38 and its 200-day moving average price is $73.13.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 3rd. The pipeline company reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.50. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 18.49% and a net margin of 25.17%.The company had revenue of $3.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.83 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.46 earnings per share. Williams Companies's revenue for the quarter was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.350-2.350 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 11th will be given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 11th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.0%. Williams Companies's dividend payout ratio is presently 83.67%.

Williams Companies News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Williams Companies this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley raised its price target for Williams Companies to $103, signaling substantial potential upside from recent trading levels and providing a constructive counterpoint to the earnings estimate cuts. Morgan Stanley Increases Williams Companies Price Target to $103
• Neutral Sentiment: The company’s latest reported quarter was solid: Williams earned $0.50 per share, matching consensus, while revenue of $3.05 billion exceeded expectations and increased 9.8% year over year. Its fee-based pipeline operations provide relatively stable cash flows.
• Negative Sentiment: US Capital Advisors lowered its EPS forecasts across several periods, including fourth-quarter 2026 EPS to $0.57 from $0.60, first-quarter 2027 EPS to $0.55 from $0.59, second-quarter 2027 EPS to $0.40 from $0.48, and third-quarter 2027 EPS to $0.50 from $0.55.
• Negative Sentiment: The firm also reduced its full-year 2027 EPS estimate to $2.07 from $2.28 and its 2028 forecast to $2.67 from $2.86. These revisions suggest analysts see weaker near- to medium-term earnings growth than previously expected and are likely the main reason the stock has decreased.

Williams Companies Company 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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