Pacer Advisors Inc. Sells 187,555 Shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Key Points

• Pacer Advisors cut its Williams Companies stake by 48.9% in the fourth quarter, selling 187,555 shares and leaving it with 195,641 shares worth about $11.76 million.
• Williams Companies reported better-than-expected EPS of $0.73 for the latest quarter, though revenue came in below estimates at $3.03 billion and was slightly lower year over year.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.525 per share, equal to an annualized yield of 2.8%, while analysts remain broadly positive with an average Buy rating and a target price around $80.47.

Pacer Advisors Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 48.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 195,641 shares of the pipeline company's stock after selling 187,555 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $11,760,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 0.7% during 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. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake 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 in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake 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 in the last quarter. BROOKFIELD Corp ON raised its stake 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi raised its stake 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company's stock.

Williams Companies Stock Up 1.3%

WMB stock opened at $75.72 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The stock has a market capitalization of $92.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.21, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.61. The business's fifty day moving average price is $73.15 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $66.51. Williams Companies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $55.82 and a fifty-two week high of $77.41.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.73 earnings per share 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 analysts' expectations 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 quarter last year, the business earned $0.60 EPS. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.37 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

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 given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 12th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.8%. Williams Companies's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 92.11%.

Insider Activity

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 27,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.92, for a total transaction of $1,968,840.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 293,159 shares in the company, valued at $21,377,154.28. This trade represents a 8.43% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Payvand Fazel sold 2,898 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.15, for a total value of $211,988.70. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 31,766 shares in the company, valued at $2,323,682.90. The trade was a 8.36% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 103,369 shares of company stock worth $7,700,932. Corporate insiders own 0.47% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on WMB. Weiss Ratings restated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Citigroup increased their price target on Williams Companies from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Williams Companies from $78.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. TD Cowen increased their price target on Williams Companies from $81.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on Williams Companies from $89.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday. 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 company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $80.47.

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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