Convergence Investment Partners LLC Trims Stock Position in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Convergence Investment Partners LLC cut its holdings in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 34,342 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 494 shares during the quarter. Convergence Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $2,157,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 131,163,184 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $7,838,312,000 after purchasing an additional 807,019 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 6.0% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 29,624,104 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,770,336,000 after buying an additional 1,680,477 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG raised its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 5.6% during the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 17,520,491 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,047,025,000 after buying an additional 932,998 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 15,291,842 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $913,840,000 after buying an additional 54,902 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in Williams Companies by 45.0% during the 1st 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 hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on WMB shares. BMO Capital Markets started coverage on Williams Companies in a research note on Friday, September 19th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $66.00 price objective for the company. UBS Group raised their price objective on Williams Companies from $74.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 30th. Argus restated a “buy” rating and set a $66.00 price objective on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Thursday, August 14th. CIBC upgraded Williams Companies from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and set a $64.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, August 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Williams Companies from $70.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $66.73.

Insider Activity at Williams Companies

In related news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the firm’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 value of $115,240.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Larry C. Larsen sold 4,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.47, for a total value of $263,115.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 77,612 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,537,973.64. This trade represents a 5.48% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 8,500 shares of company stock worth $497,715. Company insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Shares of WMB opened at $57.50 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $70.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.90, a PEG ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.65. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $60.26 and a 200-day moving average of $59.37. The company has a current ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52 week low of $51.46 and a 52 week high of $65.55.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued its earnings results on Monday, August 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.46 EPS 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 return on equity of 16.23% and a net margin of 21.63%.Williams Companies’s revenue was up 19.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.43 EPS. Williams Companies has set its FY 2025 guidance at 2.010-2.190 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 12th were given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 12th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.5%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 100.50%.

Williams Companies 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.