Taylor Frigon Capital Management LLC Buys Shares of 27,454 Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Key Points

• Taylor Frigon Capital Management opened a new stake in Williams Companies, buying 27,454 shares in Q4 valued at about $1.65 million, while other large institutions also materially increased holdings (institutional ownership ~86.44%).
• Analyst sentiment is bullish: multiple firms raised price targets (Morgan Stanley to $90), and MarketBeat shows an average rating of "Moderate Buy" with an average price target of $77.47.
• Williams raised its quarterly dividend to $0.525 (annualized $2.10) for a ~3.0% yield, though the payout ratio is high at 98.13%.

Taylor Frigon Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 27,454 shares of the pipeline company's stock, valued at approximately $1,650,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of WMB. BROOKFIELD Corp ON boosted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 190.3% in the second quarter. BROOKFIELD Corp ON now owns 12,028,186 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $755,490,000 after purchasing an additional 7,884,730 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 15.9% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 48,586,299 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $3,077,942,000 after purchasing an additional 6,668,950 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 4,992.2% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 3,704,739 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $222,692,000 after purchasing an additional 3,631,986 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 30.4% in the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,073,602 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $574,856,000 after purchasing an additional 2,116,526 shares during the period. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 27.4% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,753,924 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $491,225,000 after purchasing an additional 1,668,706 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on WMB shares. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Williams Companies from $69.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Friday, March 27th. Scotiabank boosted their price target on Williams Companies from $84.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 1st. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price target on Williams Companies from $78.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, April 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Williams Companies presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $77.47.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:WMB opened at $70.79 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $86.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 0.63. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52 week low of $55.56 and a 52 week high of $76.87. The company has a quick ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $72.78 and a 200 day moving average of $65.23.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 10th. The pipeline company reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.57 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $3.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.10 billion. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 17.32% and a net margin of 21.90%.During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.47 EPS. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 30th. Investors of record on Friday, March 13th were paid a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.0%. This is a positive change from Williams Companies's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 13th. Williams Companies's payout ratio is presently 98.13%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams Companies

In other news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 27,000 shares of the company's 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 directly owned 293,159 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $21,377,154.28. This represents a 8.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 10,107 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.91, for a total value of $757,115.37. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 17,230 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,290,699.30. The trade was a 36.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 53,369 shares of company stock worth $3,912,512. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Williams Companies

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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