Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB Stake Boosted by Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC

Key Points

• Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC increased its Williams Companies stake by 45.6% in the first quarter, ending with 122,622 shares valued at about $8.9 million.
• Analysts remain broadly bullish on WMB, with multiple firms raising price targets and the consensus rating sitting at “Buy” with an average target price of $82.94.
• Williams posted mixed but solid fundamentals: it beat EPS estimates in its latest quarter and pays a quarterly dividend of $0.525 per share, though insider selling and a high payout ratio may be worth watching.

Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 45.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 122,622 shares of the pipeline company's stock after buying an additional 38,389 shares during the period. Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC's holdings in Williams Companies were worth $8,924,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Williams Companies by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 133,963,343 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $8,052,537,000 after acquiring an additional 883,245 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 67,981,106 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $4,086,344,000 after acquiring an additional 1,296,991 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 15.9% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 48,586,299 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $3,077,942,000 after acquiring an additional 6,668,950 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its stake in Williams Companies by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 46,053,873 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $2,768,298,000 after purchasing an additional 2,100,164 shares during the period. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in Williams Companies by 11.0% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 33,572,067 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $2,018,017,000 after purchasing an additional 3,314,851 shares during the period. 86.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WMB has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $78.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Wall Street Zen raised Williams Companies from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Sunday, April 5th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Williams Companies from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Williams Companies from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $82.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price objective on Williams Companies from $81.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $82.94.

Key Stories Impacting Williams Companies

Here are the key news stories impacting Williams Companies this week:

• Positive Sentiment: JPMorgan raised its price target on Williams Companies to $89 from $88 and reiterated an overweight rating, signaling continued upside confidence in the stock. JPMorgan raises WMB price target
• Positive Sentiment: The company announced the appointment of two experienced independent directors, Billy Helms and Robb Turner, which may be viewed as a governance and strategic strength ahead of a potentially large acquisition. Williams appoints new board members
• Positive Sentiment: Williams was highlighted in a dividend-focused article as a “super-safe” income stock, reinforcing its appeal to investors looking for reliable cash flow and yield. Williams dividend stock mention
• Neutral Sentiment: Jefferies trimmed its price target to $85 from $87, but maintained a buy rating, suggesting the firm still sees meaningful upside even with slightly less aggressive expectations. Jefferies lowers WMB price target
• Neutral Sentiment: Williams is reportedly nearing a roughly $5.5 billion acquisition tied to shale basin assets, which could support longer-term growth but also adds execution and integration risk. Williams acquisition report
• Negative Sentiment: SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares, a small insider sale that can sometimes be interpreted as a mild cautionary signal, though the transaction was limited in size relative to his holdings. WMB insider sale filing

Williams Companies Stock Up 0.4%

WMB stock opened at $73.09 on Friday. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12-month low of $55.82 and a 12-month high of $80.07. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99. The company has a market cap of $89.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.06, a PEG ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a 50 day moving average of $74.06 and a two-hundred day moving average of $70.21.

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

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 29th. Investors of record on Friday, June 12th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 12th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. Williams Companies's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 92.11%.

Insider Transactions at Williams Companies

In other news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.16, for a total transaction of $148,320.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 283,159 shares of the company's stock, valued at $20,999,071.44. This trade represents a 0.70% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Glen G. Jasek sold 2,500 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.15, for a total value of $195,375.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 54,101 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,227,993.15. This represents a 4.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 68,500 shares of company stock worth $5,182,655. 0.47% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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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