Blue Trust Inc. Sells 1,640 Shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Blue Trust Inc. trimmed its stake in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 16.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,343 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 1,640 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $524,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Williams Companies by 0.6% during the first 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 during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew 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 acquiring an additional 1,680,477 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG grew 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 acquiring an additional 932,998 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew 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 acquiring an additional 54,902 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew 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 acquiring an additional 3,519,370 shares during the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 311,645 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,956,984.90. This trade represents a 0.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, COO Larry C. Larsen sold 4,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $4,537,973.64. The trade was a 5.48% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 8,500 shares of company stock valued at $497,715 in the last ninety days. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on WMB shares. Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $59.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Thursday. They set a “buy” rating and a $72.00 price target on the stock. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Saturday, September 27th. TD Cowen began coverage on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Monday, July 7th. They set a “buy” rating and a $67.00 price target on the stock. Finally, CIBC raised 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $65.94.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

NYSE:WMB opened at $62.60 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $76.33 billion, a PE ratio of 31.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.65. Williams Companies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $49.30 and a fifty-two week high of $65.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.54. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $59.55 and a 200-day moving average price of $59.07.

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

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

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

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.