Profund Advisors LLC Sells 7,078 Shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Profund Advisors LLC reduced its stake in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 15.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 38,059 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 7,078 shares during the period. Profund Advisors LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $2,288,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in WMB. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in Williams Companies by 40.9% in 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 during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Williams Companies by 5.5% in the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,635 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $291,000 after acquiring an additional 242 shares during the period. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina increased its position in shares of Williams Companies by 2.1% in the second quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 568,928 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $35,734,000 after acquiring an additional 11,926 shares during the period. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC increased its position in shares of Williams Companies by 3.0% in the second quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 10,248 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $644,000 after acquiring an additional 296 shares during the period. Finally, Ieq Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Williams Companies by 160.1% during the second quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 165,035 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $10,366,000 after buying an additional 101,574 shares during the period. 86.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on WMB shares. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Williams Companies from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Williams Companies from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, April 5th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $78.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $80.47.

Insider Transactions at Williams Companies

In related news, CFO John Dean Porter sold 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.37, for a total transaction of $3,768,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 196,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,815,254.79. This trade represents a 20.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.35, for a total transaction of $152,700.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 287,159 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,924,589.65. The trade was a 0.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 117,869 shares of company stock valued at $8,814,067. Company insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE WMB opened at $79.32 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $73.39 and a 200-day moving average price of $67.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The stock has a market cap of $96.89 billion, a PE ratio of 34.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 0.61. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $55.82 and a 1 year high of $79.59.

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

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 29th. Stockholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.6%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is 92.11%.

About Williams Companies

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.