Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB Shares Bought by Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership

Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its position in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 122.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,527,122 shares of the pipeline company's stock after acquiring an additional 839,835 shares during the quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership owned 0.13% of Williams Companies worth $111,144,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mill Creek Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Williams Companies by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Mill Creek Capital Advisors LLC now owns 6,000 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $361,000 after acquiring an additional 141 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. raised its position in Williams Companies by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 15,309 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $920,000 after acquiring an additional 148 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Williams Companies by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 12,646 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $760,000 after acquiring an additional 149 shares during the period. Great Diamond Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Great Diamond Partners LLC now owns 34,870 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $2,096,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Horizon Corp boosted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 3.7% during the 1st quarter. First Horizon Corp now owns 4,220 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $307,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO John Dean Porter sold 50,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.37, for a total transaction of $3,768,500.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 196,567 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,815,254.79. This trade 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 can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Glen G. Jasek sold 2,500 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.15, for a total transaction of $195,375.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 54,101 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,227,993.15. The trade was a 4.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 68,500 shares of company stock worth $5,182,655. Company insiders own 0.47% of the company's stock.

Williams Companies Trading Down 1.7%

Shares of WMB opened at $73.96 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 1-year low of $55.82 and a 1-year high of $80.07. The stock has a market cap of $90.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 0.57. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $74.19 and a 200-day simple moving average of $71.81.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.73 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.10. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 18.34% and a net margin of 23.39%.The company had revenue of $3.03 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.28 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.60 earnings per share. Williams Companies's 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. Equities analysts forecast that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 29th. Investors of record on Friday, June 12th were paid a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 12th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.8%. Williams Companies's payout ratio is presently 92.11%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on WMB. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $87.00 to $85.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $78.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $73.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Scotiabank increased their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Williams Companies presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $83.56.

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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