Colonial Trust Advisors Purchases New Shares in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Colonial Trust Advisors acquired a new position in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 9,894 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $621,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in Williams Companies by 40.9% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 13,680 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $740,000 after acquiring an additional 3,969 shares during the period. Eastern Bank grew its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 939.3% in the 1st quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 925 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $55,000 after purchasing an additional 836 shares during the last quarter. Modera Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 18.5% in the first quarter. Modera Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,737 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $343,000 after purchasing an additional 894 shares during the period. NorthRock Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 4.1% during the first quarter. NorthRock Partners LLC now owns 9,816 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $587,000 after purchasing an additional 387 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Harbour Investments Inc. raised its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 89.5% during the first quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 5,044 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $301,000 after purchasing an additional 2,382 shares during the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

NYSE WMB opened at $60.96 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $60.86 and a 200 day moving average price of $59.52. The company has a market capitalization of $74.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.63, a PEG ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 0.63. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1-year low of $51.58 and a 1-year high of $65.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73, a current ratio of 0.54 and a quick ratio of 0.48.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its earnings results on Monday, November 3rd. The pipeline company reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.51 by ($0.02). Williams Companies had a net margin of 21.63% and a return on equity of 16.23%. The firm had revenue of $2.92 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.87 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.43 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. Williams Companies has set its FY 2025 guidance at 2.010-2.190 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 12th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 103.09%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Williams Companies 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 transaction of $242,120.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 302,645 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Cibc World Mkts upgraded shares of Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 15th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $74.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 30th. Mizuho upgraded shares of Williams Companies to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Monday. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, October 4th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $68.21.

About Williams Companies

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.