Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd Takes $2.23 Million Position in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 30,588 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,226,000.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Leonteq Securities AG boosted its position in Williams Companies by 251.3% during the 1st quarter. Leonteq Securities AG now owns 12,438 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $905,000 after acquiring an additional 8,897 shares in the last quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund grew its stake in Williams Companies by 162.0% in the first quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund now owns 214,800 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $15,633,000 after purchasing an additional 132,800 shares during the last quarter. Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC raised its holdings in Williams Companies by 45.6% in the first quarter. Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC now owns 122,622 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $8,924,000 after purchasing an additional 38,389 shares in the last quarter. Platform Technology Partners raised its holdings in Williams Companies by 1.3% in the first quarter. Platform Technology Partners now owns 45,820 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $3,335,000 after purchasing an additional 606 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sound Income Strategies LLC lifted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 27.5% during the first quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 6,005 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $431,000 after buying an additional 1,294 shares during the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WMB has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $73.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $78.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on Williams Companies from $82.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price objective on Williams Companies from $81.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Williams Companies presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $83.50.

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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer 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 document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Larry C. Larsen sold 12,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 98,219 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,511,789.12. This represents a 10.89% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders sold 68,500 shares of company stock worth $5,182,655. 0.47% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Williams Companies Stock Up 0.2%

WMB stock opened at $75.25 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $91.92 billion, a PE ratio of 33.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 0.57. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52 week low of $55.82 and a 52 week high of $80.07. 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 firm has a 50 day moving average of $74.25 and a 200 day moving average of $70.63.

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

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 12th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 12th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.8%. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is currently 92.11%.

Williams Companies Company 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.