&PARTNERS Purchases 67,255 Shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Key Points

• &PARTNERS increased its stake in Williams Companies by 12.2% in the fourth quarter, buying 67,255 additional shares and bringing its total holding to 617,824 shares worth about $37.2 million.
• Williams Companies reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings of $0.73 per share, though revenue of $3.03 billion came in below analyst estimates and was down slightly year over year.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.525 per share, implying an annualized payout of $2.10 and a dividend yield of about 2.9%, while analysts currently rate the stock a consensus Buy.

&PARTNERS lifted its position in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 12.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 617,824 shares of the pipeline company's stock after purchasing an additional 67,255 shares during the quarter. &PARTNERS owned about 0.05% of Williams Companies worth $37,155,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Mill Creek Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Mill Creek Capital Advisors LLC now owns 6,000 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $361,000 after purchasing an additional 141 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 15,309 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $920,000 after purchasing an additional 148 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 12,646 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $760,000 after purchasing an additional 149 shares in the last quarter. Great Diamond Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Great Diamond Partners LLC now owns 34,870 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $2,096,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Betterment LLC boosted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Betterment LLC now owns 4,766 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $286,000 after purchasing an additional 154 shares in the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the business'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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 287,159 shares in the company, valued at $21,924,589.65. The trade was a 0.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO John Dean Porter sold 50,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.37, for a total value of $3,768,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 196,567 shares of the company's stock, valued at $14,815,254.79. This represents a 20.28% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 68,500 shares of company stock worth $5,177,835 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.47% of the company's stock.

Williams Companies Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of NYSE:WMB opened at $71.36 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $73.41 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $69.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $87.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.30, a PEG ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 0.58. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12-month low of $55.82 and a 12-month high of $80.07. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 18.34% and a net margin of 23.39%.The firm had revenue of $3.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.28 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.60 earnings per share. The company'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. On average, research analysts anticipate that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 12th will be paid a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 12th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. Williams Companies's payout ratio is currently 92.11%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WMB has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Friday, March 27th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Williams Companies from $89.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Truist Financial initiated coverage on Williams Companies in a research note on Tuesday, March 24th. They set a "buy" rating and a $84.00 price objective for the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Williams Companies from $80.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, March 13th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Williams Companies from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $82.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target 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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