Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB is SIR Capital Management L.P.'s 6th Largest Position

Key Points

• SIR Capital Management increased its Williams Companies stake by 40% in the fourth quarter, making WMB its 6th-largest holding at 525,232 shares worth about $31.6 million.
• Wall Street sentiment is broadly positive: multiple analysts raised price targets, and the stock currently carries an average rating of “Buy” with an average target of $82.40.
• Williams reported Q1 earnings of $0.73 per share, beating estimates, and also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.525 per share, implying a 2.9% annualized yield.

SIR Capital Management L.P. boosted its position in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 40.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 525,232 shares of the pipeline company's stock after acquiring an additional 150,032 shares during the period. Williams Companies accounts for about 3.5% of SIR Capital Management L.P.'s holdings, making the stock its 6th biggest position. SIR Capital Management L.P.'s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $31,572,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of WMB. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Williams Companies during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $747,749,000. BROOKFIELD Corp ON grew its stake in Williams Companies by 190.3% during the second quarter. BROOKFIELD Corp ON now owns 12,028,186 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $755,490,000 after acquiring an additional 7,884,730 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake 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 acquiring an additional 6,668,950 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC grew 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 valued at $1,281,875,000 after acquiring an additional 3,748,126 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC grew its stake in Williams Companies by 4,992.2% during 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 acquiring an additional 3,631,986 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WMB has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $82.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $81.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an "outperformer" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Williams Companies from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $82.00 price target for the company in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $78.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Four equities 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, the stock presently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $82.40.

Williams Companies Price Performance

WMB stock opened at $71.92 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.76. Williams Companies, Inc. has a one year low of $55.82 and a one year high of $80.07. The stock has a market cap of $87.86 billion, a PE ratio of 31.54, a P/E/G ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 0.58. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $73.44 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $68.85.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.73 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.10. Williams Companies had a net margin of 23.39% and a return on equity of 18.34%. The business 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 company earned $0.60 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity at Williams Companies

In other Williams Companies news, COO Larry C. Larsen sold 12,000 shares of the business'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 transaction, the chief operating officer owned 98,219 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,511,789.12. The trade was a 10.89% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO John Dean Porter sold 50,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.37, for a total transaction of $3,768,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 196,567 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $14,815,254.79. The trade was a 20.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 68,500 shares of company stock worth $5,177,835 in the last 90 days. 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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