Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB Shares Acquired by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Key Points

• Principal Financial Group increased its Williams Companies stake by 11.6% in the second quarter, acquiring 207,426 additional shares and bringing its holdings to about 2 million shares valued at $148.7 million.
• Analysts maintain a favorable outlook, with an overall “Buy” rating and an average price target of $85.33; several firms recently raised their targets.
• Williams reported quarterly revenue of $3.05 billion, up 9.8% year over year, while matching expectations at $0.50 earnings per share. The company also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.525, representing a 2.8% annualized yield.

Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 11.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,000,137 shares of the pipeline company's stock after acquiring an additional 207,426 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.16% of Williams Companies worth $148,690,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Towne Trust Company N.A boosted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 60.2% in the 4th quarter. Towne Trust Company N.A now owns 431 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 162 shares during the period. Main Street Group LTD acquired a new stake in Williams Companies in the first quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Motiv8 Investments LLC purchased a new position in Williams Companies in the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,000. Allied Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Williams Companies in the second quarter worth approximately $28,000. Finally, Clearstead Trust LLC grew its holdings in Williams Companies by 62.2% during the 4th quarter. Clearstead Trust LLC now owns 485 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 186 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.65, for a total transaction of $141,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 281,159 shares in the company, valued at $19,863,883.35. This represents a 0.71% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WMB has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. TD Cowen lifted their price objective 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. Scotiabank raised their price target on Williams Companies from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Wolfe Research raised Williams Companies from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Williams Companies from $78.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Williams Companies in a research note 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 given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $85.33.

Williams Companies Trading Up 2.7%

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

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

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

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

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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