Moran Wealth Management LLC Invests $12.12 Million in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Key Points

• Moran Wealth Management LLC opened a new position in Williams Companies during the first quarter, buying 166,496 shares valued at about $12.12 million.
• Williams Companies reported Q1 earnings of $0.73 per share, beating analyst estimates of $0.63, though revenue of $3.03 billion came in below expectations.
• The company recently paid a quarterly dividend of $0.525 per share, equal to an annualized yield of about 2.9%, while analysts remain broadly bullish with a consensus Buy rating and target price of $82.94.

Moran Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm acquired 166,496 shares of the pipeline company's stock, valued at approximately $12,118,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH bought a new stake in Williams Companies during the 4th quarter valued at $4,627,000. Gabelli Funds LLC boosted its position in Williams Companies by 7.4% during the 4th quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 261,000 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $15,689,000 after acquiring an additional 17,900 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 21.0% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,105,570 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $125,839,000 after purchasing an additional 365,546 shares in the last quarter. Stephens Inc. AR grew its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 8.9% in the fourth quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 164,900 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $9,912,000 after purchasing an additional 13,438 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SIR Capital Management L.P. increased its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $31,572,000 after purchasing an additional 150,032 shares during the period. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

NYSE:WMB opened at $73.09 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $74.10 and a 200-day moving average of $70.23. The firm has a market cap of $89.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99. 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 released its earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.73 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $3.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.28 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.60 EPS. The business'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. Analysts forecast that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 12th were issued a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 12th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. Williams Companies's dividend payout ratio is currently 92.11%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Glen G. Jasek sold 2,500 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.15, for a total value of $195,375.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 54,101 shares in the company, valued at $4,227,993.15. The trade was a 4.42% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO John Dean Porter sold 50,000 shares of the company's 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 sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 196,567 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $14,815,254.79. This represents a 20.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 68,500 shares of company stock worth $5,182,655 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.47% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on WMB shares. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Williams Companies from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Scotiabank boosted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce upped their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an "outperformer" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $88.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $82.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Four equities research 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 data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $82.94.

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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