Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB Position Lowered by Hilton Capital Management LLC

Key Points

• Hilton Capital Management cut its Williams Companies stake by 36.3% in the second quarter, selling 49,679 shares and retaining 87,019 shares valued at approximately $6.47 million.
• Institutional ownership remains high at 86.44%, with several major investors—including Brookfield, ClearBridge Investments and Victory Capital—substantially increasing their positions.
• Williams reported quarterly EPS of $0.50, in line with estimates, while revenue of $3.05 billion exceeded forecasts. Analysts maintain a consensus “Buy” rating with an average price target of $85.33, and the company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.525 per share.

Hilton Capital Management LLC trimmed its position in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 36.3% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 87,019 shares of the pipeline company's stock after selling 49,679 shares during the period. Hilton Capital Management LLC's holdings in Williams Companies were worth $6,469,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in Williams Companies during the 4th quarter worth approximately $747,749,000. BROOKFIELD Corp ON grew its position in shares of Williams Companies by 190.3% in the 2nd quarter. BROOKFIELD Corp ON now owns 12,028,186 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $755,490,000 after acquiring an additional 7,884,730 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA bought a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $354,184,000. Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 21.3% in the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Williams Companies by 295.7% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,446,915 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $268,723,000 after acquiring an additional 3,323,012 shares in the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.65, for a total value of $141,300.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 281,159 shares in the company, valued at $19,863,883.35. This trade represents a 0.71% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup raised their price objective on Williams Companies from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $89.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $81.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Weiss Ratings restated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $85.33.

Williams Companies Trading Up 2.7%

Williams Companies stock opened at $75.04 on Friday. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52-week low of $55.82 and a 52-week high of $80.07. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $91.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.90, a PEG ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 0.58. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $73.27 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $72.90.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The pipeline company reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.50. The company had revenue of $3.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.83 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 25.17% and a return on equity of 18.49%. Williams Companies's revenue was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.46 earnings per share. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.350-2.350 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 28th. Investors of record on Friday, September 11th will be issued a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 11th. Williams Companies's dividend payout ratio is 83.67%.

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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