Choate Investment Advisors Makes New Investment in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Choate Investment Advisors bought a new position in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm bought 34,751 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,089,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Great Diamond Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Great Diamond Partners LLC now owns 34,870 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $2,096,000 after acquiring an additional 150 shares during the period. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. grew its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 24,611 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,479,000 after buying an additional 158 shares during the last quarter. Towne Trust Company N.A grew its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 60.2% in the 4th quarter. Towne Trust Company N.A now owns 431 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 162 shares during the last quarter. Courier Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Courier Capital LLC now owns 47,466 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $2,853,000 after buying an additional 162 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sierra Summit Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Sierra Summit Advisors LLC now owns 33,871 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $2,036,000 after buying an additional 175 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Shares of WMB opened at $78.41 on Tuesday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $73.74 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $67.66. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12 month low of $55.82 and a 12 month high of $80.07. The company has a market cap of $95.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.39, a P/E/G ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 0.61.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued its earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.73 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.10. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 18.34% and a net margin of 23.39%.The business had revenue of $3.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.28 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.60 EPS. The company’s revenue was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 12th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 92.11%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams Companies

In other Williams Companies news, COO Larry C. Larsen sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.48, for a total transaction of $917,760.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 98,219 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,511,789.12. This trade represents a 10.89% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO John Dean Porter sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.37, for a total value of $3,768,500.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 196,567 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,815,254.79. This represents a 20.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders sold 90,869 shares of company stock worth $6,845,227. Insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on WMB. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Williams Companies from $80.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 13th. Wolfe Research upgraded Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Wall Street Zen upgraded Williams Companies from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, April 5th. Truist Financial began coverage on Williams Companies in a research note on Tuesday, March 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $84.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Williams Companies has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $81.00.

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.