Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Invests $4.53 Million in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new position in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 62,200 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,527,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Williams Companies by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 133,963,343 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $8,052,537,000 after buying an additional 883,245 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in Williams Companies by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 67,981,106 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $4,086,344,000 after acquiring an additional 1,296,991 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in Williams Companies by 15.9% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 48,586,299 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $3,077,942,000 after purchasing an additional 6,668,950 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 46,053,873 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $2,768,298,000 after purchasing an additional 2,100,164 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 11.0% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 33,572,067 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $2,018,017,000 after purchasing an additional 3,314,851 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WMB has been the subject of several recent research reports. UBS Group increased their price target on Williams Companies from $89.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce boosted 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. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on Williams Companies from $82.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Williams Companies from $80.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 13th. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $82.40.

Insider Transactions at Williams Companies

In other news, COO Larry C. Larsen sold 12,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.48, for a total transaction of $917,760.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 98,219 shares in the company, valued at $7,511,789.12. This trade represents a 10.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Glen G. Jasek sold 2,500 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.15, for a total value of $195,375.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 54,101 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,227,993.15. The trade was a 4.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 68,500 shares of company stock valued at $5,177,835 over the last three months. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Shares of Williams Companies stock opened at $78.00 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $95.28 billion, a PE ratio of 34.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52 week low of $55.82 and a 52 week high of $80.07. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $73.82 and its 200-day simple moving average is $69.78.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued 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. Williams Companies had a net margin of 23.39% and a return on equity of 18.34%. The firm had revenue of $3.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.28 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.60 EPS. Williams Companies’s revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 12th will be given a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 12th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.7%. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is presently 92.11%.

Williams Companies Company 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.