Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB Shares Sold by Asset Management One Co. Ltd.

Key Points

• Asset Management One Co. Ltd. trimmed its stake in Williams Companies by 3.7%, selling 20,012 shares and leaving it with 517,735 shares valued at about $30.96 million.
• Insiders have been net sellers — CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 10,107 shares and SVP Payvand Fazel sold 2,898 shares, with insiders offloading 53,369 shares (~$3.91M) in the past 90 days and now owning just 0.47% of the company.
• Analyst sentiment is generally positive: several firms raised ratings/targets (RBC, Truist, Scotiabank), MarketBeat shows a Moderate Buy consensus with an average price target of $77.47, and Williams raised its quarterly dividend to $0.525 (a 3.0% yield).

Asset Management One Co. Ltd. lowered its stake in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 3.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 517,735 shares of the pipeline company's stock after selling 20,012 shares during the period. Asset Management One Co. Ltd.'s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $30,963,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WMB. Towne Trust Company N.A boosted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 60.2% during the 4th quarter. Towne Trust Company N.A now owns 431 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 162 shares in the last quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC purchased a new position in Williams Companies in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Financial Life Planners purchased a new position in Williams Companies in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $36,000. OLD Second National Bank of Aurora raised its holdings in Williams Companies by 71.2% during the third quarter. OLD Second National Bank of Aurora now owns 630 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 262 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Turning Point Benefit Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Williams Companies during the third quarter worth $46,000. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on WMB. Zacks Research raised Williams Companies from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. Wall Street Zen raised Williams Companies from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Sunday, April 5th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $78.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, April 6th. Truist Financial began coverage on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Tuesday, March 24th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $84.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $84.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 1st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Williams Companies has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $77.47.

Insider Activity at Williams Companies

In other Williams Companies news, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 10,107 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.91, for a total transaction of $757,115.37. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 17,230 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,290,699.30. This trade represents a 36.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Payvand Fazel sold 2,898 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.15, for a total value of $211,988.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 31,766 shares in the company, valued at $2,323,682.90. This trade represents a 8.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 53,369 shares of company stock worth $3,912,512. Company insiders own 0.47% of the company's stock.

Williams Companies Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of NYSE:WMB opened at $71.17 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83. The firm has a market cap of $86.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.26, a PEG ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 0.63. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $72.93 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $65.34. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12-month low of $55.56 and a 12-month high of $76.87.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 10th. The pipeline company reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.57 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $3.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.10 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 21.90% and a return on equity of 17.32%. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.47 EPS. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 EPS for the current 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 given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.0%. This is a positive change from Williams Companies's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 13th. Williams Companies's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 98.13%.

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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