Hennessy Advisors Inc. Sells 34,600 Shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Key Points

• Hennessy Advisors sold 34,600 shares of Williams, trimming its stake by 6.6% to 492,632 shares valued at about $29.6 million (WMB is 1.0% of Hennessy’s holdings).
• Analysts have turned more positive—multiple firms raised price targets and ratings, leaving a MarketBeat consensus of "Moderate Buy" with an average target of $77.47.
• Williams reported Q4 EPS of $0.55 (missed by $0.02) with revenue beating estimates and set FY2026 guidance of $2.20–$2.38 EPS, while raising its quarterly dividend to $0.525 (3.0% yield).

Hennessy Advisors Inc. lowered its stake in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 6.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 492,632 shares of the pipeline company's stock after selling 34,600 shares during the period. Williams Companies makes up 1.0% of Hennessy Advisors Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 28th biggest holding. Hennessy Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $29,612,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in WMB. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 40.9% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 13,680 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $740,000 after purchasing an additional 3,969 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in Williams Companies by 5.5% in the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,635 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $291,000 after buying an additional 242 shares during the period. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina lifted its stake in Williams Companies by 2.1% in the second quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 568,928 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $35,734,000 after buying an additional 11,926 shares during the period. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC lifted its stake in Williams Companies by 3.0% in the second quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 10,248 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $644,000 after buying an additional 296 shares during the period. Finally, Ieq Capital LLC lifted its stake in Williams Companies by 160.1% in the second quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 165,035 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $10,366,000 after buying an additional 101,574 shares during the period. 86.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Williams Companies from $80.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, March 13th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Williams Companies from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Sunday, April 5th. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on Williams Companies from $84.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 1st. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on Williams Companies from $78.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, April 6th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Williams Companies from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $77.47.

Williams Companies Trading Up 0.0%

NYSE WMB opened at $71.17 on Monday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $72.93 and a 200-day moving average price of $65.35. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52 week low of $55.56 and a 52 week high of $76.87. The company has a market cap of $86.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.26, a P/E/G ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a quick ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 10th. The pipeline company reported $0.55 earnings per share (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 company had revenue of $3.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.10 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.47 EPS. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 30th. Investors of record on Friday, March 13th were issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.0%. This is an increase from Williams Companies's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 13th. Williams Companies's dividend payout ratio is currently 98.13%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.75, for a total transaction of $143,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 289,159 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,747,158.25. This represents a 0.69% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Todd J. Rinke sold 7,364 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.39, for a total value of $547,807.96. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 26,055 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,938,231.45. The trade was a 22.04% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 53,369 shares of company stock worth $3,912,512. 0.47% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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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