Simon Quick Advisors LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Key Points

• Simon Quick Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Williams Companies by 43.1% in Q4, adding 29,517 shares to hold 98,066 shares worth about $5.9 million.
• Several analysts raised price targets (e.g., Citigroup to $81, Morgan Stanley to $90) and the stock has an average rating of Buy with an average price target of $78.60.
• Williams increased its quarterly dividend to $0.525 (annualized $2.10) for a 2.9% yield, but the dividend payout ratio is high at 98.13%.

Simon Quick Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 43.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 98,066 shares of the pipeline company's stock after buying an additional 29,517 shares during the quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC's holdings in Williams Companies were worth $5,895,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Towne Trust Company N.A grew its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 60.2% in the fourth quarter. Towne Trust Company N.A now owns 431 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 162 shares during the period. Salomon & Ludwin LLC bought a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the third quarter worth $35,000. Financial Life Planners bought a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the third quarter worth $36,000. OLD Second National Bank of Aurora grew its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 71.2% in the third quarter. OLD Second National Bank of Aurora now owns 630 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 262 shares during the period. Finally, Turning Point Benefit Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the third quarter worth $46,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Payvand Fazel sold 2,898 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.15, for a total transaction of $211,988.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 31,766 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,323,682.90. This represents a 8.36% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 10,107 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.91, for a total transaction of $757,115.37. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 17,230 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,290,699.30. This trade represents a 36.97% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 53,369 shares of company stock worth $3,912,512. Company insiders own 0.47% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently commented on WMB shares. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Williams Companies from $70.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Williams Companies from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, March 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Williams Companies from $69.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on Williams Companies from $84.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 1st. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Williams Companies from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. Four 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $78.60.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

NYSE:WMB opened at $72.15 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12-month low of $55.82 and a 12-month high of $76.87. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $73.03 and a 200 day moving average price of $65.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $88.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.71, a P/E/G ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 0.63.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 10th. The pipeline company reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.57 by ($0.02). Williams Companies had a return on equity of 17.32% and a net margin of 21.90%.The business had revenue of $3.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.10 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.47 EPS. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 30th. Investors of record on Friday, March 13th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This is an increase from Williams Companies's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 13th. Williams Companies's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 98.13%.

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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