Verition Fund Management LLC Has $22.63 Million Position in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Key Points

• Verition Fund Management cut its stake in Williams Companies by 29% in the fourth quarter, but still held 376,441 shares worth about $22.63 million.
• Insiders sold shares recently, including CFO John Dean Porter and COO Larry C. Larsen, with total insider sales of 68,500 shares valued at $5.18 million over the last 90 days.
• Williams reported better-than-expected quarterly EPS of $0.73, maintained a quarterly dividend of $0.525 per share, and analysts remain broadly positive with an average Buy rating and a target price of $82.40.

Verition Fund Management LLC lessened its holdings in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 29.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 376,441 shares of the pipeline company's stock after selling 153,928 shares during the period. Verition Fund Management LLC's holdings in Williams Companies were worth $22,628,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position 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 acquiring an additional 883,245 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in Williams Companies by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 67,981,106 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $4,086,344,000 after acquiring an additional 1,296,991 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in Williams Companies by 15.9% during 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 in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in Williams Companies by 11.0% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 33,572,067 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $2,018,017,000 after purchasing an additional 3,314,851 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its stake in Williams Companies by 21.3% during the fourth quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 21,325,482 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $1,281,875,000 after purchasing an additional 3,748,126 shares during the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Williams Companies

In other Williams Companies news, CFO John Dean Porter sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief financial officer owned 196,567 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,815,254.79. This represents a 20.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Larry C. Larsen sold 12,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.48, for a total value of $917,760.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 98,219 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,511,789.12. This trade represents a 10.89% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 68,500 shares of company stock valued at $5,177,835. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

NYSE:WMB opened at $71.92 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99. Williams Companies, Inc. has a twelve month low of $55.82 and a twelve month high of $80.07. The company has a fifty day moving average of $73.44 and a 200-day moving average of $68.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $87.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.54, a P/E/G ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 0.58.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results 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 business had revenue of $3.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.28 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 23.39% and a return on equity of 18.34%. Williams Companies's revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.60 earnings per share. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.44 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The business 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 dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 12th. Williams Companies's dividend payout ratio is 92.11%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on WMB shares. Morgan Stanley lifted 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. 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 note on Wednesday, May 6th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $81.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Truist Financial initiated coverage on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Tuesday, March 24th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $84.00 price objective on the stock. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $82.40.

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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