Levin Capital Strategies L.P. Makes New $1.21 Million Investment in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Key Points

• Levin Capital Strategies opened a new position in Williams Companies, buying 16,582 shares worth about $1.21 million in the first quarter.
• Wall Street sentiment remains positive, with an average Buy rating and an average price target of $83.56; several firms recently reiterated or raised their ratings on WMB.
• Williams reported Q1 EPS of $0.73, beating estimates, and it paid a quarterly dividend of $0.525 per share, equivalent to an annual yield of about 2.8%.

Levin Capital Strategies L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 16,582 shares of the pipeline company's stock, valued at approximately $1,207,000.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH purchased a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the fourth quarter worth about $4,627,000. Gabelli Funds LLC boosted its holdings in Williams Companies by 7.4% during the 4th quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 261,000 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $15,689,000 after acquiring an additional 17,900 shares during the period. SIR Capital Management L.P. grew its position in Williams Companies by 40.0% during the 4th quarter. SIR Capital Management L.P. now owns 525,232 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $31,572,000 after acquiring an additional 150,032 shares during the last quarter. Stephens Inc. AR grew its position in Williams Companies by 8.9% during the 4th quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 164,900 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $9,912,000 after acquiring an additional 13,438 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC increased its stake in Williams Companies by 56.3% in the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 57,550 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $3,459,000 after purchasing an additional 20,740 shares during the period. 86.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have weighed in on WMB. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce raised their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an "outperformer" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Williams Companies from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, July 18th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised shares of Williams Companies from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Williams Companies presently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $83.56.

Insider Activity at Williams Companies

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Glen G. Jasek sold 2,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.15, for a total transaction of $195,375.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 54,101 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,227,993.15. This represents a 4.42% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO John Dean Porter sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.37, for a total value of $3,768,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 196,567 shares of the company's stock, valued at $14,815,254.79. This represents a 20.28% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 68,500 shares of company stock valued at $5,182,655. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

NYSE:WMB opened at $74.50 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $74.31 and its 200 day simple moving average is $71.69. The stock has a market cap of $91.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 0.57. Williams Companies, Inc. has a twelve month low of $55.82 and a twelve month high of $80.07.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.73 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.10. Williams Companies had a net margin of 23.39% and a return on equity of 18.34%. The business had revenue of $3.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.28 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.60 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.44 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 29th. Investors of record on Friday, June 12th were paid a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 12th. Williams Companies's dividend payout ratio is presently 92.11%.

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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