Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB Shares Acquired by CUSHING ASSET MANAGEMENT LP dba NXG INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT

Key Points

• CUSHING ASSET MANAGEMENT LP dba NXG INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT boosted its stake in Williams by 32.9% in Q4 to 1,595,100 shares (about $95.9M), making WMB its fourth-largest holding and ~5.5% of the firm's portfolio.
• Company insiders sold a total of 53,369 shares worth $3.91M in the last quarter (including SVPs Todd Rinke and Payvand Fazel), leaving insiders with roughly 0.47% ownership.
• Williams raised its quarterly dividend to $0.525 (annualized $2.10, ~3.0% yield) but has a high payout ratio (~98%); management set FY2026 EPS guidance of 2.20–2.38 while analysts' consensus is ~2.08 and Street ratings skew positive (average "Moderate Buy").

CUSHING ASSET MANAGEMENT LP dba NXG INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT raised its holdings in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 32.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,595,100 shares of the pipeline company's stock after acquiring an additional 395,000 shares during the period. Williams Companies makes up about 5.5% of CUSHING ASSET MANAGEMENT LP dba NXG INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT's portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest position. CUSHING ASSET MANAGEMENT LP dba NXG INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT owned about 0.13% of Williams Companies worth $95,881,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of WMB. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 40.9% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 13,680 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $740,000 after purchasing an additional 3,969 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 5.5% in the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,635 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $291,000 after purchasing an additional 242 shares during the period. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina lifted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 568,928 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $35,734,000 after purchasing an additional 11,926 shares during the period. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC lifted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 3.0% in the 2nd quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 10,248 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $644,000 after purchasing an additional 296 shares during the period. Finally, Ieq Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 160.1% in the 2nd quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 165,035 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $10,366,000 after purchasing an additional 101,574 shares during the period. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Williams Companies

In related news, SVP Todd J. Rinke sold 7,364 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.39, for a total value of $547,807.96. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 26,055 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,938,231.45. The trade was a 22.04% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Payvand Fazel sold 2,898 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.15, for a total transaction of $211,988.70. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 31,766 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,323,682.90. The trade was a 8.36% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 53,369 shares of company stock worth $3,912,512 in the last quarter. 0.47% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WMB opened at $71.17 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $86.94 billion, a PE ratio of 33.26, a PEG ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 0.63. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $72.93 and a 200 day moving average of $65.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.53. Williams Companies, Inc. has a one year low of $55.56 and a one year high of $76.87.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 10th. The pipeline company reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.57 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $3.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations 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 in the previous year, the firm posted $0.47 EPS. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WMB has been the subject of several analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $78.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, April 6th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $80.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, March 13th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $70.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Friday, March 27th. 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 target price for the company. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $77.47.

Williams Companies Company 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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