Bank of Nova Scotia Has $90.72 Million Stake in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Bank of Nova Scotia increased its holdings in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 252.8% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,246,558 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 893,190 shares during the quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $90,724,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 133,963,343 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $8,052,537,000 after purchasing an additional 883,245 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Williams Companies by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 67,981,106 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $4,086,344,000 after purchasing an additional 1,296,991 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE increased its holdings in Williams Companies by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 46,053,873 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $2,768,298,000 after purchasing an additional 2,100,164 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in Williams Companies by 11.0% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 33,572,067 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $2,018,017,000 after buying an additional 3,314,851 shares during the period. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its holdings in Williams Companies by 21.3% during the fourth quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 21,325,482 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,281,875,000 after buying an additional 3,748,126 shares during the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Williams Companies

In other news, COO Larry C. Larsen sold 12,000 shares of the business’s 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 sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 98,219 shares in the company, valued at $7,511,789.12. The trade was a 10.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Glen G. Jasek sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.15, for a total value of $195,375.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 54,101 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,227,993.15. The trade was a 4.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 68,500 shares of company stock worth $5,182,655 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Shares of WMB stock opened at $75.25 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.83. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52 week low of $55.82 and a 52 week high of $80.07. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $74.27 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $71.79. The company has a market capitalization of $91.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 0.57.

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

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 29th. Investors of record on Friday, June 12th were paid a $0.525 dividend. 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 dividend payout ratio is presently 92.11%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Scotiabank boosted their target price on Williams Companies from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $82.00 target price on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $98.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Williams Companies from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, July 18th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $87.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $83.56.

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.