Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB Shares Bought by Woodline Partners LP

Key Points

• Woodline Partners LP increased its position in Williams Companies, Inc. by 40.7%, acquiring an additional 29,780 shares in the first quarter, bringing its total holdings to 102,987 shares valued at $6.15 million.
• Institutional investors now own 86.44% of Williams Companies' stock, indicating strong support from the investment community.
• Williams Companies announced a quarterly dividend of $0.50, representing an annualized yield of 3.4%, with the ex-dividend date set for September 12th.

Woodline Partners LP lifted its position in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 40.7% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 102,987 shares of the pipeline company's stock after buying an additional 29,780 shares during the period. Woodline Partners LP's holdings in Williams Companies were worth $6,155,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in WMB. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the 1st quarter worth approximately $335,419,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 45.0% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 11,339,078 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $677,623,000 after buying an additional 3,519,370 shares during the last quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 34.0% during the 1st quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 11,287,921 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $674,566,000 after buying an additional 2,861,988 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 6,407.2% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,238,490 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $133,772,000 after buying an additional 2,204,090 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Congress Asset Management Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the 1st quarter worth approximately $112,706,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.62, for a total value of $115,240.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 311,645 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,956,984.90. The trade was a 0.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Larry C. Larsen sold 4,500 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.47, for a total transaction of $263,115.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 77,612 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,537,973.64. The trade was a 5.48% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 10,500 shares of company stock worth $623,115. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. TD Cowen assumed coverage on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Monday, July 7th. They set a "buy" rating and a $67.00 price objective for the company. CIBC raised shares of Williams Companies from a "neutral" rating to a "sector outperform" rating and set a $64.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, August 15th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Williams Companies from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised shares of Williams Companies from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research report on Friday, June 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $62.86.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Shares of WMB opened at $58.84 on Friday. Williams Companies, Inc. has a twelve month low of $44.51 and a twelve month high of $63.45. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $58.05 and its 200-day simple moving average is $58.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $71.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.57, a PEG ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a current ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.46 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.49 by ($0.03). Williams Companies had a return on equity of 16.23% and a net margin of 21.63%.The company had revenue of $2.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.90 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.43 earnings per share. Williams Companies's revenue was up 19.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Williams Companies has set its FY 2025 guidance at 2.010-2.190 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 12th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 12th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.4%. Williams Companies's payout ratio is currently 100.50%.

Williams Companies Profile

The Williams Companies, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an energy infrastructure company primarily in the United States. It operates through Transmission & Gulf of Mexico, Northeast G&P, West, and Gas & NGL Marketing Services segments. The Transmission & Gulf of Mexico segment comprises natural gas pipelines; Transco, Northwest pipeline, MountainWest, and related natural gas storage facilities; and natural gas gathering and processing, and crude oil production handling and transportation assets in the Gulf Coast region.

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