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

Key Points

• Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd cut its stake in Williams Companies by 46.5% in the fourth quarter, selling 323,801 shares and leaving it with 371,978 shares valued at about $22.36 million.
• Williams Companies reported first-quarter EPS of $0.73, topping analyst expectations of $0.63, though revenue came in below estimates at $3.03 billion.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.525 per share, implying an annualized payout of $2.10 and a yield of 2.8%; analysts remain generally bullish with an average rating of Buy and a price target of $80.27.

Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd lowered its holdings in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 46.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 371,978 shares of the pipeline company's stock after selling 323,801 shares during the period. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd's holdings in Williams Companies were worth $22,360,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WMB. Towne Trust Company N.A raised its position in Williams Companies by 60.2% during the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Financial Life Planners acquired a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the third quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Turning Point Benefit Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the third quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. raised its position in shares of Williams Companies by 99.7% in the second quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 767 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $48,000 after buying an additional 383 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Accordant Advisory Group Inc raised its position in shares of Williams Companies by 324.7% in the fourth quarter. Accordant Advisory Group Inc now owns 807 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $49,000 after buying an additional 617 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company's stock.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Williams Companies stock opened at $74.16 on Tuesday. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $55.82 and a 1 year high of $77.41. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $73.16 and a 200 day moving average price of $66.30. The company has a market cap of $90.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.53, a PEG ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.83.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.10. Williams Companies had a net margin of 23.39% and a return on equity of 18.34%. The firm had revenue of $3.03 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.28 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $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. Sell-side analysts predict that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Transactions at Williams Companies

In related news, CFO John Dean Porter sold 50,000 shares of the business'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 value of $3,768,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 196,567 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,815,254.79. The trade was a 20.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Payvand Fazel sold 2,898 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.15, for a total transaction of $211,988.70. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 31,766 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,323,682.90. The trade was a 8.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 103,369 shares of company stock valued at $7,700,932 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.47% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on WMB. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $80.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, March 13th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $81.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $78.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised shares of Williams Companies from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $80.27.

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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