Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. Sells 30,452 Shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Key Points

• Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management cut its stake in Williams Companies by 43.1% in the fourth quarter, selling 30,452 shares and ending with 40,172 shares valued at about $2.4 million.
• Insider selling has also been notable, with COO Larry C. Larsen and CFO John Dean Porter both reducing their holdings; insiders sold 90,869 shares worth about $6.85 million over the last 90 days.
• Williams Companies reported better-than-expected Q1 earnings of $0.73 per share, and analysts remain broadly positive with a consensus Buy rating and an average price target of $82.40.

Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lessened its position in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 43.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 40,172 shares of the pipeline company's stock after selling 30,452 shares during the quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co.'s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $2,415,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Williams Companies by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 133,963,343 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $8,052,537,000 after acquiring an additional 883,245 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 15.9% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 48,586,299 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $3,077,942,000 after purchasing an additional 6,668,950 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 14,575,898 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $923,383,000 after purchasing an additional 158,077 shares during the period. BROOKFIELD Corp ON increased its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 190.3% during the 2nd quarter. BROOKFIELD Corp ON now owns 12,028,186 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $755,490,000 after purchasing an additional 7,884,730 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi increased its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 5.3% during the 3rd quarter. Amundi now owns 9,600,016 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $610,369,000 after purchasing an additional 481,082 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams Companies

In other Williams Companies news, COO Larry C. Larsen sold 12,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.48, for a total value of $917,760.00. Following 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO John Dean Porter sold 50,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.37, for a total transaction of $3,768,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 196,567 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,815,254.79. This trade represents a 20.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 90,869 shares of company stock worth $6,845,227 in the last 90 days. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WMB has been the topic of several research reports. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an "outperformer" rating in a report on Tuesday. Weiss Ratings restated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Friday, March 27th. Truist Financial initiated coverage on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Tuesday, March 24th. They set a "buy" rating and a $84.00 price objective on the stock. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, April 10th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $82.40.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Shares of Williams Companies stock opened at $76.37 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.83. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $73.80 and its 200-day simple moving average is $67.79. Williams Companies, Inc. has a twelve month low of $55.82 and a twelve month high of $80.07. The firm has a market cap of $93.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 0.61.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.73 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 analyst estimates of $3.28 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.60 EPS. The firm's revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 12th will be given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 12th. Williams Companies's payout ratio is 92.11%.

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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