Swiss National Bank Grows Stake in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Swiss National Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 7.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,584,000 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 237,500 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank owned about 0.29% of Williams Companies worth $260,844,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in WMB. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 3,969 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in Williams Companies by 5.5% during 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 in the last quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina increased its holdings in Williams Companies by 2.1% in the 2nd 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 last quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC lifted its stake in Williams Companies by 3.0% in the 2nd quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 10,248 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $644,000 after purchasing an additional 296 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ieq Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 160.1% during the 2nd quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 165,035 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $10,366,000 after purchasing an additional 101,574 shares during the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Williams Companies Trading Down 1.9%

Shares of NYSE WMB opened at $73.34 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $74.37 and its two-hundred day moving average is $71.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.76. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1-year low of $55.82 and a 1-year high of $80.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $89.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.17, a PEG ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 0.57.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.10. The business 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 company’s revenue for the quarter was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.60 EPS. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.43 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 29th. Investors of record on Friday, June 12th were given a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 12th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 92.11%.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Larry C. Larsen sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.48, for a total value of $917,760.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 98,219 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,511,789.12. This represents a 10.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.16, for a total transaction of $148,320.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 283,159 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,999,071.44. This trade represents a 0.70% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 68,500 shares of company stock valued at $5,182,655 over the last ninety days. 0.47% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup lifted their target price on Williams Companies from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce lifted their price objective on Williams Companies from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “outperformer” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Wolfe Research raised Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Williams Companies from $88.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $73.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $83.56.

Williams Companies 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.