Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. Cuts Stake in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. lowered its stake in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 1.3% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 32,699 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 417 shares during the period. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd.’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $1,954,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of WMB. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 40.9% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 13,680 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $740,000 after purchasing an additional 3,969 shares in the last quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 11.0% during the fourth quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 7,460 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $404,000 after purchasing an additional 740 shares in the last quarter. MJP Associates Inc. ADV increased its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 7.5% during the fourth quarter. MJP Associates Inc. ADV now owns 8,101 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $438,000 after purchasing an additional 564 shares in the last quarter. Napa Wealth Management boosted its position in Williams Companies by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Napa Wealth Management now owns 7,190 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $389,000 after acquiring an additional 190 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Meketa Capital LLC acquired a new position in Williams Companies during the fourth quarter worth about $535,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

NYSE:WMB opened at $57.55 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73, a current ratio of 0.54 and a quick ratio of 0.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $70.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.92, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.65. The company’s 50-day moving average is $58.03 and its two-hundred day moving average is $58.38. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1-year low of $43.98 and a 1-year high of $63.45.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its earnings results on Monday, August 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.46 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.49 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $2.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.90 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 21.63% and a return on equity of 16.23%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.43 earnings per share. Williams Companies has set its FY 2025 guidance at 2.010-2.190 EPS. Analysts forecast that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 12th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 12th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 100.50%.

Insider Activity at Williams Companies

In other news, COO Larry C. Larsen sold 4,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.47, for a total value of $263,115.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 77,612 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,537,973.64. This represents a 5.48% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.62, for a total transaction of $115,240.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 311,645 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,956,984.90. This represents a 0.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 10,500 shares of company stock worth $623,115. Company insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on WMB shares. CIBC upgraded shares of Williams Companies from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and set a $64.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 15th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $58.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. Cibc World Mkts upgraded shares of Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 15th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Williams Companies from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Friday, June 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Williams Companies presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $62.86.

About Williams Companies

The Williams Companies, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an energy infrastructure company primarily in the United States. It operates through Transmission & Gulf of Mexico, Northeast G&P, West, and Gas & NGL Marketing Services segments. The Transmission & Gulf of Mexico segment comprises natural gas pipelines; Transco, Northwest pipeline, MountainWest, and related natural gas storage facilities; and natural gas gathering and processing, and crude oil production handling and transportation assets in the Gulf Coast region.