Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Boosts Holdings in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 26.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 792,077 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 164,159 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $57,647,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Towne Trust Company N.A raised its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 60.2% during the fourth quarter. Towne Trust Company N.A now owns 431 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 162 shares during the last quarter. Motiv8 Investments LLC purchased a new position in Williams Companies in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Clearstead Trust LLC grew its position in Williams Companies by 62.2% in the 4th quarter. Clearstead Trust LLC now owns 485 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 186 shares during the last quarter. Kemnay Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new position in Williams Companies in the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, WHI TRUST Co LLC acquired a new position in Williams Companies in the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

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 transaction, the chief operating officer owned 98,219 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,511,789.12. This represents a 10.89% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.35, for a total value of $152,700.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 287,159 shares in the company, valued at $21,924,589.65. This trade represents a 0.69% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 68,500 shares of company stock valued at $5,177,835 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on WMB. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Williams Companies from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, April 5th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $78.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce increased their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “outperformer” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Friday, March 27th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $82.40.

Williams Companies Stock Up 2.1%

Shares of NYSE WMB opened at $77.43 on Friday. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12-month low of $55.82 and a 12-month high of $80.07. The company has a market capitalization of $94.59 billion, a PE ratio of 33.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $73.68 and its two-hundred day moving average is $69.72.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $3.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.28 billion. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 18.34% and a net margin of 23.39%.The business’s revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.60 earnings per share. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 29th. Investors 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 yield of 2.7%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 92.11%.

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.