Hsbc Holdings PLC Cuts Stake in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Key Points

• HSBC Holdings PLC trimmed its stake in Williams Companies by 3.4% in the fourth quarter, selling 79,630 shares and ending with about 2.27 million shares valued at roughly $136.6 million.
• Williams Companies reported strong quarterly earnings of $0.73 per share, beating estimates, though revenue came in below expectations at $3.03 billion and was slightly down year over year.
• The company continues to support shareholders with a quarterly dividend of $0.525, equal to an annualized yield of about 2.9%, while analysts remain broadly positive with a consensus Buy rating.

Hsbc Holdings PLC reduced its holdings in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 3.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,273,211 shares of the pipeline company's stock after selling 79,630 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC owned about 0.19% of Williams Companies worth $136,580,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 40.9% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 13,680 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $740,000 after purchasing an additional 3,969 shares during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in Williams Companies by 5.5% during the 2nd 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 last quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina raised its holdings in Williams Companies by 2.1% during the 2nd 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 last quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC grew its holdings in Williams Companies by 3.0% in the 2nd quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 10,248 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $644,000 after acquiring an additional 296 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ieq Capital LLC increased its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 101,574 shares during the period. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Williams Companies Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of NYSE WMB opened at $73.09 on Friday. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $74.10 and its 200-day moving average price is $70.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.83. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52-week low of $55.82 and a 52-week high of $80.07. The company has a market cap of $89.28 billion, a PE ratio of 32.06, a P/E/G ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 0.57.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.73 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $3.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.28 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.60 EPS. The company's quarterly 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, equities research analysts expect that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 29th. Investors 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 payout ratio is presently 92.11%.

Insider Transactions at Williams Companies

In other news, COO Larry C. Larsen sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.48, for a total value of $917,760.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 98,219 shares in the company, valued at $7,511,789.12. This represents a 10.89% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.16, for a total value of $148,320.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 283,159 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,999,071.44. This represents a 0.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 68,500 shares of company stock valued at $5,182,655. 0.47% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $88.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Williams Companies from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. Wolfe Research raised Williams Companies from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. UBS Group increased their price objective on Williams Companies from $89.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, Truist Financial assumed coverage on Williams Companies in a research note on Tuesday, March 24th. They set a "buy" rating and a $84.00 target price on the stock. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Williams Companies has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $82.94.

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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding WMB? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.