Nordea Investment Management AB Raises Stock Holdings in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 21.0% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 2,105,570 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 365,546 shares during the quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $125,839,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Salomon & Ludwin LLC purchased a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $35,000. Financial Life Planners purchased a new stake in Williams Companies during the third quarter valued at approximately $36,000. South Plains Financial Inc. lifted its position in Williams Companies by 289.7% during the second quarter. South Plains Financial Inc. now owns 608 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 452 shares during the last quarter. OLD Second National Bank of Aurora boosted its stake in Williams Companies by 71.2% in the third quarter. OLD Second National Bank of Aurora now owns 630 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 262 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Turning Point Benefit Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Williams Companies in the third quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WMB has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Williams Companies from $69.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on Williams Companies from $78.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. UBS Group increased their price target on Williams Companies from $78.00 to $89.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on Williams Companies from $75.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $76.50.

Williams Companies Trading Down 2.2%

NYSE:WMB opened at $72.44 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $88.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.85, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a current ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12 month low of $51.58 and a 12 month high of $76.87. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $69.57 and a 200-day simple moving average of $63.61.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 10th. The pipeline company reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.57 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $3.20 billion during 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 previous year, the company earned $0.47 earnings per share. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be issued a $0.525 dividend. This is a boost from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 98.13%.

Insider Transactions at Williams Companies

In related news, SVP Todd J. Rinke sold 7,364 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.39, for a total value of $547,807.96. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 26,055 shares in the company, valued at $1,938,231.45. This represents a 22.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Payvand Fazel sold 2,898 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.15, for a total transaction of $211,988.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 31,766 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,323,682.90. This trade represents a 8.36% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 51,369 shares of company stock valued at $3,769,012 over the last three months. Company 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.