Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB Shares Sold by Townsquare Capital LLC

Townsquare Capital LLC decreased its position in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 40.4% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 14,985 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 10,143 shares during the period. Townsquare Capital LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $949,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the 2nd quarter worth $765,164,000. BROOKFIELD Corp ON boosted its holdings in Williams Companies by 190.3% in the 2nd quarter. BROOKFIELD Corp ON now owns 12,028,186 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $755,490,000 after acquiring an additional 7,884,730 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in Williams Companies by 27.3% during the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 14,417,821 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $905,583,000 after purchasing an additional 3,089,390 shares in the last quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership increased its position in shares of Williams Companies by 39.0% during the second quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 6,954,733 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $436,827,000 after acquiring an additional 1,950,485 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Williams Companies by 1.5% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 133,075,340 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $8,358,462,000 after purchasing an additional 1,912,156 shares in the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Williams Companies Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of Williams Companies stock opened at $67.30 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73, a current ratio of 0.42 and a quick ratio of 0.36. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1-year low of $51.58 and a 1-year high of $68.27. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $61.15 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $60.06. The company has a market capitalization of $82.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.69, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 0.64.

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

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 30th. Investors of record on Friday, March 13th will be given a $0.525 dividend. This is a boost from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.1%. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is currently 108.25%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 4th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $72.00 to $70.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 13th. Zacks Research lowered Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on Williams Companies from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $68.29.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

About Williams Companies

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.