Macquarie Group Ltd. Decreases Stake in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Key Points

• Macquarie Group cut its stake in Williams Companies by 50.2% in the fourth quarter, selling 771,608 shares and leaving it with 766,680 shares worth about $46.1 million.
• Williams Companies reported strong quarterly earnings, posting $0.73 per share and beating estimates, though revenue came in below expectations at $3.03 billion. The company also guided for FY2026 EPS of 2.20 to 2.38.
• Analysts remain bullish overall, with a consensus rating of Buy and an average price target of $82.40. The company also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.525 per share, implying a 2.9% annual yield.

Macquarie Group Ltd. lowered its stake in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 50.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 766,680 shares of the pipeline company's stock after selling 771,608 shares during the period. Macquarie Group Ltd. owned 0.06% of Williams Companies worth $46,085,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Summit Financial LLC raised its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Summit Financial LLC now owns 87,620 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $5,267,000 after buying an additional 1,185 shares during the last quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 9.4% during the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 33,438 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $2,010,000 after purchasing an additional 2,876 shares during the last quarter. Castleark Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 17.9% during the fourth quarter. Castleark Management LLC now owns 125,730 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $7,558,000 after purchasing an additional 19,090 shares during the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 8.7% during the fourth quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 120,044 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $7,216,000 after purchasing an additional 9,656 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Federation des caisses Desjardins du Quebec raised its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 10.4% during the fourth quarter. Federation des caisses Desjardins du Quebec now owns 385,287 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $23,160,000 after purchasing an additional 36,376 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other Williams Companies news, CFO John Dean Porter sold 50,000 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 6th. The shares were 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 owned 196,567 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $14,815,254.79. The trade was a 20.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Larry C. Larsen sold 12,000 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.48, for a total transaction of $917,760.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 98,219 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,511,789.12. The trade was a 10.89% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 68,500 shares of company stock worth $5,177,835 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.47% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $82.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Weiss Ratings reissued a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Friday, March 27th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, April 10th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, 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. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $82.40.

Williams Companies Stock Up 0.4%

WMB opened at $71.92 on Friday. Williams Companies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $55.82 and a fifty-two week high of $80.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.83. The company has a fifty day moving average of $73.44 and a two-hundred day moving average of $68.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $87.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.54, a PEG ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 0.58.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.73 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.10. Williams Companies had a net margin of 23.39% and a return on equity of 18.34%. The company had revenue of $3.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.28 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.60 earnings per share. The firm'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. On average, research analysts expect that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 12th will be issued a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 12th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. Williams Companies's payout ratio is presently 92.11%.

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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