Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. Reduces Stock Position in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,093,148 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 23,713 shares during the period. Williams Companies comprises about 1.7% of Johnson Investment Counsel Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest position. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. owned approximately 0.25% of Williams Companies worth $194,281,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Williams Companies by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 131,163,184 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $7,838,312,000 after acquiring an additional 807,019 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in Williams Companies by 6.0% during the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 29,624,104 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,770,336,000 after purchasing an additional 1,680,477 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG boosted its position in Williams Companies by 5.6% during the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 17,520,491 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,047,025,000 after purchasing an additional 932,998 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in Williams Companies by 0.4% during the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 15,291,842 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $913,840,000 after purchasing an additional 54,902 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in Williams Companies by 45.0% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 11,339,078 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $677,623,000 after purchasing an additional 3,519,370 shares in the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Shares of WMB opened at $62.60 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.54. Williams Companies, Inc. has a one year low of $49.30 and a one year high of $65.55. The stock has a market cap of $76.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.46, a P/E/G ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.65. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $59.55 and a two-hundred day moving average of $59.07.

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

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 29th. Investors of record on Friday, September 12th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 12th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.2%. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is currently 100.50%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Larry C. Larsen sold 4,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.47, for a total transaction of $263,115.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 77,612 shares in the company, valued at $4,537,973.64. The trade was a 5.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.62, for a total value of $115,240.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 311,645 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,956,984.90. This trade represents a 0.64% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 8,500 shares of company stock valued at $497,715 over the last 90 days. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WMB has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $59.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $70.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. BMO Capital Markets started coverage on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Friday, September 19th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $66.00 target price for the company. CIBC upgraded shares of Williams Companies from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and set a $64.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, August 15th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Williams Companies from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $65.94.

Williams Companies Company Profile

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.