KBC Group NV Cuts Stake in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Key Points

• KBC Group NV reduced its stake in Williams by 46% in Q4, selling 119,393 shares and leaving it with 140,257 shares valued at about $8.43 million.
• Company insiders sold a total of 53,369 shares last quarter (≈$3.91M), leaving insiders with just 0.47% ownership, indicating notable insider selling activity.
• Williams raised its quarterly dividend to $0.525 (annualized $2.10, 3.0% yield), while analysts remain generally bullish with a consensus "Moderate Buy" rating and a target of $77.47, plus several recent price-target upgrades.

KBC Group NV lowered its stake in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 46.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 140,257 shares of the pipeline company's stock after selling 119,393 shares during the period. KBC Group NV's holdings in Williams Companies were worth $8,431,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Towne Trust Company N.A increased its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 60.2% during the fourth quarter. Towne Trust Company N.A now owns 431 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 162 shares in the last quarter. LRI Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 8.8% during the third quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 2,169 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $137,000 after purchasing an additional 176 shares in the last quarter. Patten & Patten Inc. TN increased its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 1.7% during the third quarter. Patten & Patten Inc. TN now owns 11,087 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $702,000 after purchasing an additional 187 shares in the last quarter. Premier Path Wealth Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Premier Path Wealth Partners LLC now owns 19,006 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $1,142,000 after purchasing an additional 193 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wedmont Private Capital increased its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 25,000 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $1,510,000 after purchasing an additional 196 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on WMB. Weiss Ratings reissued a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Williams Companies from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Sunday, April 5th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $80.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $69.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Truist Financial began coverage on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Tuesday, March 24th. They set a "buy" rating and a $84.00 price target on the stock. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Williams Companies has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $77.47.

Insider Activity

In other Williams Companies news, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 10,107 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.91, for a total value of $757,115.37. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 17,230 shares in the company, valued at $1,290,699.30. The trade was a 36.97% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Payvand Fazel sold 2,898 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.15, for a total transaction of $211,988.70. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 31,766 shares in the company, valued at $2,323,682.90. This trade represents a 8.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 53,369 shares of company stock valued at $3,912,512. Company insiders own 0.47% of the company's stock.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

NYSE:WMB opened at $71.17 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83, a current ratio of 0.53 and a quick ratio of 0.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $86.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.26, a PEG ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 0.63. The company's 50-day moving average is $72.93 and its two-hundred day moving average is $65.34. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1-year low of $55.56 and a 1-year high of $76.87.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 10th. The pipeline company reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.57 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $3.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.10 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 21.90% and a return on equity of 17.32%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.47 earnings per share. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. Analysts forecast that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 13th were issued a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 13th. This is a positive change from Williams Companies's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Williams Companies's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 98.13%.

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.

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