Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. Grows Holdings in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Key Points

• Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management increased its Williams Companies stake by 21.8% in the second quarter, bringing its holdings to 111,133 shares valued at $8.26 million. Institutional investors collectively own 86.44% of WMB.
• Williams Companies reported quarterly earnings of $0.50 per share, in line with estimates, while revenue of $3.05 billion exceeded expectations and rose 9.8% year over year. The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.525 per share, equating to a 2.8% annualized yield.
• Wall Street maintains a positive outlook, with a consensus “Buy” rating and an average price target of $85.60, above the reported share price of $75.26.

Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its stake in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 21.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 111,133 shares of the pipeline company's stock after buying an additional 19,857 shares during the quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co.'s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $8,262,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in WMB. State Street Corp increased its stake in Williams Companies by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 67,981,106 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $4,086,344,000 after acquiring an additional 1,296,991 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 46,053,873 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $2,768,298,000 after purchasing an additional 2,100,164 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 11.0% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 33,572,067 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $2,018,017,000 after purchasing an additional 3,314,851 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of Williams Companies by 43.4% during the 2nd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 33,097,208 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $2,460,446,000 after purchasing an additional 10,013,946 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 21.3% during the 4th quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 21,325,482 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $1,281,875,000 after buying an additional 3,748,126 shares in the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Williams Companies Price Performance

WMB opened at $75.26 on Thursday. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $73.44 and its 200 day simple moving average is $73.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83, a current ratio of 0.48 and a quick ratio of 0.43. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $56.08 and a 1 year high of $80.07. The firm has a market cap of $92.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.98, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 0.59.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 3rd. The pipeline company reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.50. The firm had revenue of $3.05 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.83 billion. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 18.49% and a net margin of 25.17%.The business's revenue was up 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.46 earnings per share. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.350-2.350 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.45 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, September 28th. Investors of record on Friday, September 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 11th. Williams Companies's dividend payout ratio is currently 83.67%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce upped their target price on Williams Companies from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an "outperformer" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Weiss Ratings reissued a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $81.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $83.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, August 10th. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $85.60.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.56, for a total transaction of $151,120.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 264,259 shares of the company's stock, valued at $19,967,410.04. This represents a 0.75% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 19,000 shares of company stock worth $1,414,050. Corporate insiders own 0.47% of the company's stock.

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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