Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Cuts Stake in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC cut its stake in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 11.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 245,072 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 32,260 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $15,525,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of WMB. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in Williams Companies by 40.9% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 13,680 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $740,000 after purchasing an additional 3,969 shares in the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 2.5% during the first quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 11,918 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $712,000 after buying an additional 296 shares during the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP grew its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 40.7% during the first quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 102,987 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $6,155,000 after buying an additional 29,780 shares during the last quarter. SCS Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the first quarter valued at approximately $564,000. Finally, Integrity Alliance LLC. purchased a new position in Williams Companies in the 1st quarter worth approximately $570,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WMB has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on Williams Companies from $72.00 to $70.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. Tudor Pickering raised Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 1st. Citigroup increased their price objective on Williams Companies from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 13th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Williams Companies from $74.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $70.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $68.29.

Williams Companies Stock Down 1.4%

Williams Companies stock opened at $60.31 on Friday. Williams Companies, Inc. has a one year low of $51.58 and a one year high of $65.55. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $59.96 and a 200 day moving average of $59.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.42. The stock has a market cap of $73.65 billion, a PE ratio of 31.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 0.64.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its earnings results on Monday, November 3rd. The pipeline company reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.51 by ($0.02). Williams Companies had a return on equity of 16.74% and a net margin of 20.61%.The firm had revenue of $2.92 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.87 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.43 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. Williams Companies has set its FY 2025 guidance at 2.010-2.190 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 12th were given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 12th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.3%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 103.09%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 4,000 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.53, for a total transaction of $242,120.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 302,645 shares in the company, valued at $18,319,101.85. This trade represents a 1.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

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.