Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. Cuts Stock Position in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Key Points

• Nomura Asset Management cut its Williams Companies stake by 12.1% in the fourth quarter, selling 59,358 shares and leaving it with 430,421 shares valued at about $25.9 million.
• Williams Companies reported better-than-expected earnings of $0.73 per share on May 4, beating estimates, though revenue came in below forecasts at $3.03 billion and was slightly lower than a year ago.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.525 per share, implying an annualized payout of $2.10 and a 3.0% yield, while analysts remain broadly positive with an average Buy rating and $82.40 price target.

Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. trimmed its position in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 12.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 430,421 shares of the pipeline company's stock after selling 59,358 shares during the quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd.'s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $25,873,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of WMB. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Williams Companies by 3.1% in the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,540,556 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $287,644,000 after acquiring an additional 134,777 shares in the last quarter. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH acquired a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the fourth quarter valued at about $4,627,000. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp raised its position in shares of Williams Companies by 3,344.8% in the 3rd quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp now owns 17,465 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $1,106,000 after purchasing an additional 16,958 shares during the last quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC boosted its stake in Williams Companies by 7.4% in the 4th quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 261,000 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $15,689,000 after purchasing an additional 17,900 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in Williams Companies by 21.0% in the 4th 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. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

NYSE WMB opened at $70.10 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $85.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.74, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 0.58. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $73.69 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $68.15. 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, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $55.82 and a fifty-two week high of $80.07.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.73 EPS for the quarter, topping 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%.Williams Companies's revenue for the quarter was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.60 earnings per share. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. On average, equities 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 12th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.0%. Williams Companies's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 92.11%.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Larry C. Larsen sold 12,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 14th. The shares were 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 directly owned 98,219 shares in the company, valued at $7,511,789.12. The trade was a 10.89% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Payvand Fazel sold 2,898 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction on Friday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.15, for a total transaction of $211,988.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 31,766 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,323,682.90. The trade was a 8.36% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 78,762 shares of company stock worth $5,937,632. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $78.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Williams Companies from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $82.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Citigroup raised their target price on Williams Companies from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Zacks Research raised Williams Companies from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Four equities research 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 target price of $82.40.

Williams Companies 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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