Artisan Partners Limited Partnership Has $306.86 Million Stock Position in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Artisan Partners Limited Partnership lowered its stake in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 18.3% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 5,104,961 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 1,142,034 shares during the period. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $306,859,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in WMB. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in Williams Companies by 40.9% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 13,680 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $740,000 after acquiring an additional 3,969 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Williams Companies by 5.5% during the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,635 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $291,000 after acquiring an additional 242 shares in the last quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina lifted its holdings in Williams Companies by 2.1% during the second quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 568,928 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $35,734,000 after acquiring an additional 11,926 shares in the last quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC lifted its holdings in Williams Companies by 3.0% during the second quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 10,248 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $644,000 after acquiring an additional 296 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ieq Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Williams Companies by 160.1% during the second quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 165,035 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $10,366,000 after acquiring an additional 101,574 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO John Dean Porter sold 50,000 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.37, for a total transaction of $3,768,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 196,567 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,815,254.79. This trade represents a 20.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Larry C. Larsen sold 12,000 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.48, for a total value of $917,760.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 98,219 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,511,789.12. The trade was a 10.89% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 68,500 shares of company stock worth $5,177,835. Company insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Stock Down 0.2%

WMB stock opened at $71.36 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $73.41 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $69.08. The company has a market cap of $87.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.30, a P/E/G ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 0.58. Williams Companies, Inc. has a twelve month low of $55.82 and a twelve month high of $80.07.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.73 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.28 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.60 earnings per share. Williams Companies’s quarterly revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 29th. Investors of record on Friday, June 12th will be issued 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 yield of 2.9%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 92.11%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Citigroup lifted their price target on Williams Companies from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Williams Companies from $89.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Williams Companies from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Friday, March 27th. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their price target on Williams Companies from $81.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Four 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat, Williams Companies has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $82.40.

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.