Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas Grows Position in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Key Points

• Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas increased its stake in Williams Companies by 30% in the fourth quarter, bringing its holdings to 115,434 shares worth about $6.94 million.
• Institutional ownership remains heavy, with major firms like Vanguard, State Street, and Wellington also adding shares; overall, hedge funds and other institutions own 86.44% of the company.
• Williams Companies reported quarterly EPS of $0.73, topping expectations, and it recently declared a $0.525 quarterly dividend, equal to an annualized yield of about 2.9%.

Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas grew its stake in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 30.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 115,434 shares of the pipeline company's stock after purchasing an additional 26,663 shares during the period. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas' holdings in Williams Companies were worth $6,939,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position 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 purchasing an additional 883,245 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in Williams Companies by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 67,981,106 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $4,086,344,000 after purchasing an additional 1,296,991 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in Williams Companies by 15.9% in 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 in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its position in 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. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its position in Williams Companies by 21.3% in the 4th quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 21,325,482 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $1,281,875,000 after purchasing an additional 3,748,126 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on WMB shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Williams Companies from $80.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Citigroup increased their target price on Williams Companies from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce increased their target price on Williams Companies from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an "outperformer" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on Williams Companies from $82.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Williams Companies from $78.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $82.40.

Williams Companies Trading Down 0.9%

Shares of WMB stock opened at $71.43 on Tuesday. The stock's fifty day moving average is $73.42 and its two-hundred day moving average is $69.00. 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 has a market capitalization of $87.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.33, a PEG ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 0.58. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.73 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.10. The company 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 firm's revenue for the quarter was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.60 EPS. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. Research analysts expect that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 is Friday, June 12th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. Williams Companies's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 92.11%.

Insider Transactions at Williams Companies

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.35, for a total value of $152,700.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 287,159 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,924,589.65. This trade represents a 0.69% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Glen G. Jasek sold 2,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.15, for a total value of $195,375.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 54,101 shares in the company, valued at $4,227,993.15. The trade was a 4.42% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 68,500 shares of company stock worth $5,177,835. Company insiders own 0.47% of the company's stock.

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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