Janney Montgomery Scott LLC Makes New $56.68 Million Investment in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Key Points

• Janney Montgomery Scott LLC acquired 762,479 shares of Williams Companies during the second quarter, valued at approximately $56.68 million. Institutional investors collectively own 86.44% of WMB’s outstanding stock.
• Analysts remain broadly bullish, with a consensus “Buy” rating and an average price target of $85.33; several firms recently raised their targets.
• Williams Companies reported quarterly EPS of $0.50, matching estimates, while revenue rose 9.8% year over year to $3.05 billion. The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.525 per share, equivalent to a 2.8% annualized yield.

Janney Montgomery Scott LLC purchased a new position in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 762,479 shares of the pipeline company's stock, valued at approximately $56,683,000. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC owned approximately 0.06% of Williams Companies at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Williams Companies by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 133,963,343 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $8,052,537,000 after purchasing an additional 883,245 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 67,981,106 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $4,086,344,000 after buying an additional 1,296,991 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 46,053,873 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $2,768,298,000 after buying an additional 2,100,164 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 11.0% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 33,572,067 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $2,018,017,000 after buying an additional 3,314,851 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its stake in Williams Companies by 21.3% in the 4th quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 21,325,482 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $1,281,875,000 after acquiring an additional 3,748,126 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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 firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.65, for a total transaction of $141,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 281,159 shares in the company, valued at $19,863,883.35. This trade represents a 0.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.47% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on WMB. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $83.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, August 10th. Scotiabank upped their target price on Williams Companies from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. UBS Group reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Finally, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce boosted their price target on Williams Companies from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an "outperformer" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $85.33.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Williams Companies stock opened at $75.04 on Friday. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $55.82 and a 1 year high of $80.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.48. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $73.27 and a 200 day moving average price of $72.90. The company has a market cap of $91.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.90, a PEG ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 0.58.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 3rd. The pipeline company reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, hitting 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.83 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.46 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue 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. Sell-side analysts predict that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 28th. Investors of record on Friday, September 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 11th. Williams Companies's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 83.67%.

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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