Horizon Investments LLC Purchases 37,739 Shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Key Points

• Horizon Investments LLC raised its stake in Williams Companies by 24.6% in Q4, buying 37,739 shares to hold 191,042 shares valued at $11.484 million.
• 86.44% institutional ownership and recent analyst upgrades (e.g., Morgan Stanley to $90, Wells Fargo to $89) leave a MarketBeat consensus rating of Buy with a $78.60 price target.
• Williams declared a quarterly dividend of $0.525 payable June 29 (annual $2.10, yield 2.8%), though its dividend payout ratio is high at 98.13%, which may limit dividend growth potential.

Horizon Investments LLC raised its stake in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 24.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 191,042 shares of the pipeline company's stock after buying an additional 37,739 shares during the period. Horizon Investments LLC's holdings in Williams Companies were worth $11,484,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,540,556 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $287,644,000 after acquiring an additional 134,777 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 9.5% in the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 184,123 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $11,664,000 after acquiring an additional 16,027 shares during the last quarter. Compass Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 75.9% in the 3rd quarter. Compass Wealth Management LLC now owns 125,290 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $7,937,000 after acquiring an additional 54,057 shares during the last quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp lifted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 3,344.8% in the 3rd quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp now owns 17,465 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $1,106,000 after acquiring an additional 16,958 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH bought a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the 4th quarter valued at about $4,627,000. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.75, for a total value of $143,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 289,159 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $20,747,158.25. This represents a 0.69% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 10,107 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.91, for a total value of $757,115.37. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 17,230 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,290,699.30. This represents a 36.97% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 53,369 shares of company stock valued at $3,912,512 in the last 90 days. 0.47% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Williams Companies from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Williams Companies from $80.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, March 13th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Williams Companies from $69.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Zacks Research raised Williams Companies from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Finally, Truist Financial assumed coverage on Williams Companies in a research report on Tuesday, March 24th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $84.00 price objective on the stock. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Williams Companies has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $78.60.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Shares of WMB stock opened at $75.69 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $92.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.37, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.61. Williams Companies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $55.82 and a fifty-two week high of $76.87. The business's 50 day moving average price is $73.14 and its 200-day moving average price is $65.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.53.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 10th. The pipeline company reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.57 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $3.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.10 billion. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 17.32% and a net margin of 21.90%.During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.47 earnings per share. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.42 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 12th will be given a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 12th. Williams Companies's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 98.13%.

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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