Adams Natural Resources Fund Inc. Purchases 85,500 Shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Adams Natural Resources Fund Inc. boosted its position in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 24.4% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 435,550 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after acquiring an additional 85,500 shares during the quarter. Williams Companies makes up 4.0% of Adams Natural Resources Fund Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. Adams Natural Resources Fund Inc.’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $26,181,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Towne Trust Company N.A raised its holdings in Williams Companies by 60.2% in the fourth quarter. Towne Trust Company N.A now owns 431 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 162 shares in the last quarter. Clearstead Trust LLC raised its holdings in Williams Companies by 62.2% in the fourth quarter. Clearstead Trust LLC now owns 485 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 186 shares in the last quarter. First Command Advisory Services Inc. raised its holdings in Williams Companies by 216.8% in the fourth quarter. First Command Advisory Services Inc. now owns 491 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 336 shares in the last quarter. WHI TRUST Co LLC acquired a new stake in Williams Companies in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC purchased a new position in Williams Companies in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams Companies

In related news, COO Larry C. Larsen sold 12,000 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.48, for a total value of $917,760.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 98,219 shares in the company, valued at $7,511,789.12. This trade represents a 10.89% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.35, for a total transaction of $152,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 287,159 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,924,589.65. This trade represents a 0.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders have sold 68,500 shares of company stock valued at $5,177,835. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Shares of WMB opened at $71.92 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99. The firm has a market cap of $87.86 billion, a PE ratio of 31.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 0.58. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $73.44 and its 200-day simple moving average is $68.85. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12-month low of $55.82 and a 12-month high of $80.07.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $3.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.28 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 23.39% and a return on equity of 18.34%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.60 earnings per share. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.44 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 12th will be given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 12th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.9%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 92.11%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WMB has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 10th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $78.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $89.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $82.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Williams Companies from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, April 5th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Williams Companies presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $82.40.

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.