Ascent Group LLC Cuts Stock Position in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Ascent Group LLC cut its stake in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 13.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 57,729 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 8,735 shares during the quarter. Ascent Group LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $3,470,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in Williams Companies by 40.9% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 13,680 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $740,000 after buying an additional 3,969 shares during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 5.5% in the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,635 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $291,000 after acquiring an additional 242 shares in the last quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC increased its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 2.2% during the second quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 29,920 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,879,000 after acquiring an additional 639 shares during the period. Gabelli Funds LLC increased its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 56.7% during the second quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 243,100 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $15,269,000 after acquiring an additional 88,000 shares during the period. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. raised its holdings in Williams Companies by 13.8% during the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 1,380,115 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $86,685,000 after purchasing an additional 167,673 shares in the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Williams Companies Trading Up 0.0%

Shares of Williams Companies stock opened at $72.03 on Monday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $71.84 and a two-hundred day moving average of $64.66. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12-month low of $51.58 and a 12-month high of $76.87. The company has a current ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83. The stock has a market cap of $87.98 billion, a PE ratio of 33.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.63.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 10th. The pipeline company reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.57 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $3.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.10 billion. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 17.32% and a net margin of 21.90%.During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.47 EPS. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 13th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 13th. This is a positive change from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. 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 98.13%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Williams Companies from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. UBS Group increased their target price on Williams Companies from $78.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Williams Companies from $69.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Williams Companies from $80.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 13th. Finally, Scotiabank increased their price objective on Williams Companies from $84.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 1st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $77.07.

Insider Transactions at Williams Companies

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Todd J. Rinke sold 7,364 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,938,231.45. This represents a 22.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Payvand Fazel sold 2,898 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.15, for a total value of $211,988.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 31,766 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,323,682.90. This represents a 8.36% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 53,369 shares of company stock valued at $3,912,512 in the last three months. 0.44% 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.