Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management Increases Stake in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management increased its holdings in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 12.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 30,762 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after buying an additional 3,491 shares during the period. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $1,932,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Williams Companies by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 131,163,184 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $7,838,312,000 after buying an additional 807,019 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Williams Companies by 6.0% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 29,624,104 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,770,336,000 after buying an additional 1,680,477 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG increased its stake in Williams Companies by 5.6% during the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 17,520,491 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,047,025,000 after buying an additional 932,998 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in Williams Companies by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 15,291,842 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $913,840,000 after buying an additional 54,902 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in Williams Companies by 45.0% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 11,339,078 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $677,623,000 after buying an additional 3,519,370 shares during the period. 86.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams Companies

In related news, COO Larry C. Larsen sold 4,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 11th. The shares were 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 owned 77,612 shares in the company, valued at $4,537,973.64. This represents a 5.48% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.62, for a total transaction 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 approximately $17,956,984.90. This trade represents a 0.64% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 8,500 shares of company stock valued at $497,715. 0.44% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Williams Companies from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Friday, June 13th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $70.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $59.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $59.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $65.53.

Williams Companies Trading Up 0.8%

Shares of Williams Companies stock opened at $64.54 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $59.14 and a 200-day simple moving average of $58.97. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12-month low of $48.41 and a 12-month high of $65.55. The company has a current ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73. The stock has a market cap of $78.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.43, a PEG ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 0.65.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued its earnings results on Monday, August 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.49 by ($0.03). Williams Companies had a net margin of 21.63% and a return on equity of 16.23%. The company had revenue of $2.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.90 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.43 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 19.0% on a year-over-year basis. Williams Companies has set its FY 2025 guidance at 2.010-2.190 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 29th. Investors of record on Friday, September 12th were given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 12th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.1%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is 100.50%.

Williams Companies 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.