Brevan Howard Capital Management LP Raises Stake in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Brevan Howard Capital Management LP boosted its position in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 4,985.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 374,202 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after acquiring an additional 366,843 shares during the period. Brevan Howard Capital Management LP’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $23,504,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Flaharty Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Williams Companies in the first quarter valued at $25,000. Hartford Funds Management Co LLC acquired a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the 2nd quarter worth about $29,000. Private Wealth Management Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 104.8% in the 2nd quarter. Private Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 469 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 240 shares during the last quarter. Saudi Central Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the 1st quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp purchased a new stake in Williams Companies during the second quarter worth approximately $32,000. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on WMB. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $59.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. Zacks Research lowered shares of Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Friday, October 17th. Tudor Pickering upgraded shares of Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 1st. Finally, CIBC upgraded Williams Companies from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and set a $64.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 15th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Williams Companies presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $68.21.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 4,000 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.53, for a total value of $242,120.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 302,645 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,319,101.85. The trade was a 1.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

NYSE WMB opened at $59.77 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $72.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.81, a P/E/G ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 0.62. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52-week low of $51.58 and a 52-week high of $65.55. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $60.51 and its 200 day moving average price is $59.72. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 3rd. The pipeline company reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $2.92 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.87 billion. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 16.74% and a net margin of 20.61%.The firm’s revenue was up 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.43 earnings per share. Williams Companies has set its FY 2025 guidance at 2.010-2.190 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 12th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 12th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.3%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 103.09%.

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.