Sit Investment Associates Inc. Buys 58,193 Shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Key Points

• Sit Investment Associates increased its stake in Williams Companies by 16.2% in the fourth quarter, buying 58,193 more shares and bringing its total holding to 417,479 shares worth about $25.1 million.
• Wall Street sentiment remains positive: several analysts raised price targets, and Williams now has a consensus Buy rating with an average target price of $82.40.
• Williams reported Q1 earnings of $0.73 per share, topping estimates, and it declared a quarterly dividend of $0.525 per share, implying an annualized yield of about 2.9%.

Sit Investment Associates Inc. boosted its stake in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 16.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 417,479 shares of the pipeline company's stock after acquiring an additional 58,193 shares during the period. Sit Investment Associates Inc.'s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $25,095,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH purchased a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the fourth quarter valued at $4,627,000. Gabelli Funds LLC increased its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 7.4% during the fourth quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 261,000 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $15,689,000 after buying an additional 17,900 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 21.0% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,105,570 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $125,839,000 after buying an additional 365,546 shares during the period. Stephens Inc. AR increased its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 8.9% during the fourth quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 164,900 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $9,912,000 after buying an additional 13,438 shares during the period. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 56.3% during the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 57,550 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $3,459,000 after buying an additional 20,740 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Williams Companies from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. Truist Financial started coverage on Williams Companies in a research report on Tuesday, March 24th. They set a "buy" rating and a $84.00 price objective on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Williams Companies from $78.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Williams Companies from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on Williams Companies from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Williams Companies presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $82.40.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WMB opened at $71.66 on Friday. 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 company has a market cap of $87.54 billion, a PE ratio of 31.43, a P/E/G ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 0.58. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $73.43 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $68.83. 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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $3.03 billion during 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 revenue for the quarter was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.60 earnings per share. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the senior vice president directly 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Glen G. Jasek sold 2,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the senior vice president owned 54,101 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,227,993.15. This trade represents a 4.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 68,500 shares of company stock valued at $5,177,835 over the last ninety days. 0.47% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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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