Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Raises Holdings in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Key Points

• The Maryland State Retirement & Pension System increased its holdings in Williams Companies by 6.3% in Q2, owning 1,159,547 shares valued at approximately $72.83 million.
• Insider transactions included 2,000 shares sold by SVP Terrance Lane Wilson and 4,500 shares sold by COO Larry C. Larsen, indicating a slight decrease in their share ownership.
• Analysts have set a consensus price target of $65.53 for Williams Companies, with several firms issuing ratings ranging from "buy" to "outperform."

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System raised its holdings in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 6.3% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 1,159,547 shares of the pipeline company's stock after buying an additional 68,855 shares during the quarter. Williams Companies comprises 1.6% of Maryland State Retirement & Pension System's holdings, making the stock its 8th largest position. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System owned 0.10% of Williams Companies worth $72,831,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WMB. Flaharty Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Williams Companies in the first quarter valued at about $25,000. HWG Holdings LP purchased a new stake in Williams Companies in the first quarter valued at about $26,000. Saudi Central Bank purchased a new stake in Williams Companies in the first quarter valued at about $29,000. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Williams Companies by 4,490.9% in the first quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC now owns 505 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 494 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Abound Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Williams Companies in the first quarter valued at about $32,000. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.62, for a total value of $115,240.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 311,645 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $17,956,984.90. The trade was a 0.64% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Larry C. Larsen sold 4,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.47, for a total transaction of $263,115.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 77,612 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,537,973.64. The trade was a 5.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 8,500 shares of company stock worth $497,715 in the last three months. 0.44% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on WMB. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $63.00 price target on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Barclays raised their price objective on Williams Companies from $59.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 30th. Argus restated a "buy" rating and issued a $66.00 price objective on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Thursday, August 14th. Weiss Ratings restated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Saturday, September 27th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded Williams Companies from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research note on Friday, June 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Williams Companies presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $65.53.

Williams Companies Stock Down 0.8%

Williams Companies stock opened at $63.49 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $77.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.65. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52 week low of $48.71 and a 52 week high of $65.55. The business's 50-day moving average price is $59.44 and its 200 day moving average price is $59.05. The company has a quick ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Monday, August 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.46 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.49 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $2.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.90 billion. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 16.23% and a net margin of 21.63%.The firm's revenue was up 19.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.43 earnings per share. Williams Companies has set its FY 2025 guidance at 2.010-2.190 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 29th. Investors of record on Friday, September 12th were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 12th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.2%. Williams Companies's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 100.50%.

Williams Companies Company Profile

The Williams Companies, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an energy infrastructure company primarily in the United States. It operates through Transmission & Gulf of Mexico, Northeast G&P, West, and Gas & NGL Marketing Services segments. The Transmission & Gulf of Mexico segment comprises natural gas pipelines; Transco, Northwest pipeline, MountainWest, and related natural gas storage facilities; and natural gas gathering and processing, and crude oil production handling and transportation assets in the Gulf Coast region.

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