Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB Shares Sold by Essex Financial Services Inc.

Essex Financial Services Inc. reduced its position in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 51.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 6,808 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 7,186 shares during the period. Essex Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $495,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Mill Creek Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Williams Companies by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Mill Creek Capital Advisors LLC now owns 6,000 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $361,000 after purchasing an additional 141 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 15,309 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $920,000 after buying an additional 148 shares during the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Williams Companies by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 12,646 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $760,000 after buying an additional 149 shares in the last quarter. Great Diamond Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Great Diamond Partners LLC now owns 34,870 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $2,096,000 after buying an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Betterment LLC boosted its stake in Williams Companies by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Betterment LLC now owns 4,766 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $286,000 after acquiring an additional 154 shares during the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Williams Companies from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $82.00 target price for the company in a research report on Monday, April 20th. TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $81.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Williams Companies from $78.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Williams Companies from $89.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on Williams Companies from $82.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $82.94.

Insider Transactions at Williams Companies

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 transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 196,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,815,254.79. The trade was a 20.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.16, for a total transaction of $148,320.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 283,159 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,999,071.44. This trade represents a 0.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 68,500 shares of company stock worth $5,182,655 in the last three months. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Williams Companies Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of Williams Companies stock opened at $73.09 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.76. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1-year low of $55.82 and a 1-year high of $80.07. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $74.10 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $70.23. The company has a market capitalization of $89.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.06, a PEG ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 0.57.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.73 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $3.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.60 earnings per share. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.44 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 29th. Investors of record on Friday, June 12th were paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 12th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 92.11%.

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.