First Financial Bankshares Inc Lowers Stock Holdings in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Key Points

• First Financial Bankshares trimmed its stake in Williams Companies by 1.4% in the fourth quarter, though it still held 1.44 million shares worth about $86.6 million and made WMB its 16th-largest position.
• Insider selling picked up recently, with SVP Terrance Lane Wilson and SVP Glen G. Jasek both selling shares; insiders sold a total of 68,500 shares worth about $5.18 million over the past three months.
• Williams Companies reported better-than-expected earnings of $0.73 per share, but revenue came in below estimates at $3.03 billion; the company also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.525 per share, yielding about 2.9% annually.

First Financial Bankshares Inc lowered its holdings in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 1.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,440,934 shares of the pipeline company's stock after selling 19,816 shares during the quarter. Williams Companies makes up 1.7% of First Financial Bankshares Inc's holdings, making the stock its 16th largest position. First Financial Bankshares Inc owned about 0.12% of Williams Companies worth $86,615,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH purchased a new position in Williams Companies during the fourth quarter worth approximately $4,627,000. Gabelli Funds LLC raised its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 7.4% during the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 21.0% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,105,570 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $125,839,000 after acquiring an additional 365,546 shares during the last quarter. Stephens Inc. AR raised its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 8.9% during the fourth quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 164,900 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $9,912,000 after acquiring an additional 13,438 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 56.3% during the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 57,550 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $3,459,000 after acquiring an additional 20,740 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.35, for a total value of $152,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 287,159 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $21,924,589.65. This trade represents a 0.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Glen G. Jasek sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.15, for a total value of $195,375.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 54,101 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,227,993.15. This represents a 4.42% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 68,500 shares of company stock worth $5,177,835 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.47% of the company's stock.

Williams Companies Price Performance

NYSE:WMB opened at $71.66 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 debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.83. The stock has a market cap of $87.54 billion, a PE ratio of 31.43, a P/E/G ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 0.58. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $73.43 and a 200 day moving average price of $68.83.

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 return on equity of 18.34% and a net margin of 23.39%.The firm had revenue of $3.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.28 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.60 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.44 EPS for the current fiscal 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. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 12th. Williams Companies's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 92.11%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on WMB. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Williams Companies from $78.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Wolfe Research raised Williams Companies from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Weiss Ratings reissued a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Friday, March 27th. TD Cowen increased 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. Finally, Scotiabank increased their target price on Williams Companies from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $82.40.

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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