Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP Makes New $500.31 Million Investment in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Key Points

• Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors purchased 6.73 million Williams Companies shares worth approximately $500.3 million, making WMB its largest portfolio holding at about 9.8% and representing a 0.55% stake in the company.
• Analysts remain broadly bullish, with a consensus “Buy” rating and an average price target of $85.60, compared with shares opening at $71.86.
• Williams Companies matched quarterly earnings expectations at $0.50 per share, while revenue rose 9.8% year over year to $3.05 billion. The company also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.525 per share, or $2.10 annualized, yielding approximately 2.9%.

Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP purchased a new position in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 6,729,960 shares of the pipeline company's stock, valued at approximately $500,305,000. Williams Companies makes up about 9.8% of Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP's investment portfolio, making the stock its biggest holding. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP owned 0.55% of Williams Companies as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Cynosure Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the 2nd quarter valued at $647,000. Gabelli Funds LLC increased its position in Williams Companies by 7.4% during the fourth quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 261,000 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $15,689,000 after buying an additional 17,900 shares during the last quarter. SIR Capital Management L.P. increased its position in Williams Companies by 40.0% during the fourth quarter. SIR Capital Management L.P. now owns 525,232 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $31,572,000 after buying an additional 150,032 shares during the last quarter. Stephens Inc. AR raised its holdings in 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 buying an additional 13,438 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 56.3% in the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 57,550 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $3,459,000 after buying an additional 20,740 shares during the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $82.00 price target on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Tuesday, July 14th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce raised their price objective on Williams Companies from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an "outperformer" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on Williams Companies from $87.00 to $85.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. UBS Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Williams Companies from $89.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $85.60.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:WMB opened at $71.86 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $87.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.63, a PEG ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 0.58. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $73.40 and a 200 day moving average price of $73.15. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83. Williams Companies, Inc. has a twelve month low of $56.08 and a twelve month high of $80.07.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The pipeline company reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate 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 in the previous year, the business posted $0.46 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.350-2.350 EPS. Research analysts predict that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 28th. Investors of record on Friday, September 11th will be given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 11th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. Williams Companies's payout ratio is 83.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 13,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.87, for a total transaction of $973,310.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 268,159 shares in the company, valued at $20,077,064.33. This represents a 4.62% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 17,000 shares of company stock worth $1,262,930. 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.

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.

Continue following MarketBeat

Add MarketBeat as your preferred source on Google to see our latest stories in your feed.

Add As Preferred Source