Assetmark Inc. Increases Stock Position in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Assetmark Inc. increased its holdings in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 9.1% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 190,228 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 15,939 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc.’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $13,845,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH purchased a new position in Williams Companies during the fourth quarter worth about $4,627,000. Gabelli Funds LLC raised its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 7.4% in the 4th quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 261,000 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $15,689,000 after acquiring an additional 17,900 shares in the last quarter. SIR Capital Management L.P. boosted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 40.0% during the 4th quarter. SIR Capital Management L.P. now owns 525,232 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $31,572,000 after acquiring an additional 150,032 shares during the last quarter. Stephens Inc. AR boosted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 8.9% during the 4th quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 164,900 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $9,912,000 after acquiring an additional 13,438 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 21.0% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,105,570 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $125,839,000 after purchasing an additional 365,546 shares in the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently weighed in on WMB shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $88.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Williams Companies from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday. Wolfe Research raised shares of Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. 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 report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, UBS Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $83.56.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams Companies

In other Williams Companies news, CFO John Dean Porter sold 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 6th. The shares were 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 directly owned 196,567 shares in the company, valued at $14,815,254.79. This represents a 20.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Glen G. Jasek sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.15, for a total value of $195,375.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 54,101 shares in the company, valued at $4,227,993.15. This trade represents a 4.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 68,500 shares of company stock worth $5,182,655 in the last 90 days. 0.47% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

NYSE:WMB opened at $73.34 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $89.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.17, a PEG ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 0.57. The business has a 50 day moving average of $74.37 and a 200 day moving average of $71.40. 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.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.73 EPS 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 business’s quarterly revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.60 earnings per share. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

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