National Pension Service Sells 720,989 Shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Key Points

• National Pension Service reduced its stake in Williams Companies by 18.6% in the fourth quarter, selling 720,989 shares and leaving it with 3.15 million shares valued at about $189.5 million.
• Williams Companies posted mixed quarterly results, beating EPS estimates at $0.73 per share but missing revenue expectations with $3.03 billion in sales. The company also reaffirmed FY 2026 EPS guidance of 2.20 to 2.38.
• The stock has support from analysts and pays a dividend, with several firms raising price targets and the consensus rating remaining “Buy” at an average target of $82.40. Williams also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.525 per share, yielding about 2.9% annually.

National Pension Service lessened its stake in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 18.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,152,872 shares of the pipeline company's stock after selling 720,989 shares during the quarter. National Pension Service owned about 0.26% of Williams Companies worth $189,519,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Basepoint Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the 4th quarter worth about $50,000. Linscomb Wealth Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Linscomb Wealth Inc. now owns 190,066 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $11,425,000 after acquiring an additional 1,162 shares in the last quarter. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. boosted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 18.0% during the 4th quarter. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. now owns 114,500 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $6,883,000 after acquiring an additional 17,500 shares in the last quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC boosted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 80.9% during the 4th quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC now owns 19,912 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $1,197,000 after acquiring an additional 8,903 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SBI Okasan Asset Management Co.Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the 4th quarter worth about $466,000. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company's stock.

Williams Companies Trading Down 2.4%

Williams Companies stock opened at $71.41 on Friday. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52 week low of $55.82 and a 52 week high of $80.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $87.23 billion, a PE ratio of 31.32, a PEG ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 0.61. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $73.77 and its 200-day simple moving average is $68.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.83.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $3.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.28 billion. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 18.34% and a net margin of 23.39%.The company's quarterly revenue was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.60 earnings per share. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. Williams Companies's dividend payout ratio is 92.11%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on WMB. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Williams Companies from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $82.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Williams Companies from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on Williams Companies from $81.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Truist Financial began coverage on Williams Companies in a research note on Tuesday, March 24th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $84.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Williams Companies from $80.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, March 13th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Williams Companies presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $82.40.

Insider Transactions at Williams Companies

In other Williams Companies news, COO Larry C. Larsen sold 12,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.48, for a total value of $917,760.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 98,219 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,511,789.12. This represents a 10.89% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Todd J. Rinke sold 7,364 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.39, for a total value of $547,807.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 26,055 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,938,231.45. This trade represents a 22.04% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 80,762 shares of company stock worth $6,088,112. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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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