Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB Shares Purchased by Brookstone Capital Management

Key Points

• Brookstone Capital Management increased its stake in Williams Companies by 53.8% in the first quarter, buying an additional 13,678 shares and bringing its total to 39,095 shares valued at about $2.85 million.
• Analyst sentiment remains upbeat: several firms recently raised price targets, and the stock now has a consensus Buy rating with an average target price of $82.40.
• Williams reported Q1 earnings of $0.73 per share, beating estimates, and also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.525 per share, equal to an annualized yield of about 2.8%.

Brookstone Capital Management increased its position in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 53.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 39,095 shares of the pipeline company's stock after purchasing an additional 13,678 shares during the period. Brookstone Capital Management's holdings in Williams Companies were worth $2,845,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of WMB. Mill Creek Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Mill Creek Capital Advisors LLC now owns 6,000 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $361,000 after purchasing an additional 141 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its stake in Williams Companies by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 15,309 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $920,000 after purchasing an additional 148 shares during the period. Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 12,646 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $760,000 after buying an additional 149 shares during the period. Great Diamond Partners LLC grew its stake in Williams Companies by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Great Diamond Partners LLC now owns 34,870 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $2,096,000 after acquiring an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Betterment LLC increased its stake in Williams Companies by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Betterment LLC now owns 4,766 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $286,000 after buying an additional 154 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on WMB. Citigroup raised their price target on Williams Companies from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Friday, March 27th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Williams Companies from $78.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Williams Companies from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Sunday, April 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased 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. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $82.40.

Williams Companies Stock Up 0.1%

WMB opened at $75.90 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.83. The firm has a market cap of $92.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.29, a PEG ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 0.58. Williams Companies, Inc. has a twelve month low of $55.82 and a twelve month high of $80.07. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $73.56 and its 200-day simple moving average is $69.62.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. The company had revenue of $3.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.28 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 23.39% and a return on equity of 18.34%. The company's revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.60 earnings per share. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 12th will be given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 12th. Williams Companies's dividend payout ratio is presently 92.11%.

Insider Transactions at Williams Companies

In other news, CFO John Dean Porter sold 50,000 shares of Williams Companies 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 196,567 shares in the company, valued at $14,815,254.79. The trade was a 20.28% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.35, for a total transaction of $152,700.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 287,159 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $21,924,589.65. This trade represents a 0.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 68,500 shares of company stock valued at $5,177,835 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.47% of the company's stock.

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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