North Dakota State Investment Board Takes Position in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

North Dakota State Investment Board acquired a new stake in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm acquired 41,766 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,511,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in WMB. Towne Trust Company N.A grew its position in shares of Williams Companies by 60.2% during the fourth quarter. Towne Trust Company N.A now owns 431 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 162 shares in the last quarter. WHI TRUST Co LLC purchased a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Financial Life Planners purchased a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the third quarter valued at about $36,000. Turning Point Benefit Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the third quarter valued at about $46,000. Finally, Rakuten Securities Inc. grew its position in shares of Williams Companies by 99.7% during the second quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 767 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 383 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Trading Down 0.2%

WMB opened at $77.55 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $94.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.01, a P/E/G ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 0.61. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12 month low of $55.82 and a 12 month high of $78.31. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $73.29 and a 200 day moving average of $66.93.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.73 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $3.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.28 billion. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 18.34% and a net margin of 23.39%.The firm’s revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.60 earnings per share. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.37 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 12th will be paid a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 12th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.7%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 92.11%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on WMB. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Williams Companies from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price target on Williams Companies from $82.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on Williams Companies from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 10th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on Williams Companies from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $80.47.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Williams Companies news, COO Larry C. Larsen sold 12,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.48, for a total value of $917,760.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 98,219 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,511,789.12. This trade represents a 10.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Payvand Fazel sold 2,898 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.15, for a total transaction of $211,988.70. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 31,766 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,323,682.90. The trade was a 8.36% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 117,869 shares of company stock valued at $8,814,067 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

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.