State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Acquires 1,840 Shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D lifted its position in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 410,822 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after buying an additional 1,840 shares during the quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $25,804,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of WMB. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Williams Companies during the first quarter valued at $335,419,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted 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. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. boosted its position in Williams Companies by 34.0% during the first quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 11,287,921 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $674,566,000 after acquiring an additional 2,861,988 shares during the last quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Williams Companies by 275.7% during the first quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 2,609,318 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $155,933,000 after acquiring an additional 1,914,730 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP boosted 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. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on WMB. Barclays upped 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 report on Tuesday, October 14th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, October 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $59.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 2nd. BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Friday, September 19th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $66.00 price target for the company. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $66.73.

Williams Companies Stock Down 2.4%

Shares of NYSE WMB opened at $57.50 on Friday. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $51.46 and a 1 year high of $65.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $70.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $60.26 and a 200-day moving average price of $59.32. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.46 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.49 by ($0.03). Williams Companies had a return on equity of 16.23% and a net margin of 21.63%.The firm had revenue of $2.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.90 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.43 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Williams Companies has set its FY 2025 guidance at 2.010-2.190 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 29th. Investors of record on Friday, September 12th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 12th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.5%. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is 100.50%.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Larry C. Larsen sold 4,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.47, for a total transaction of $263,115.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 77,612 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,537,973.64. The trade was a 5.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.62, for a total transaction of $115,240.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 311,645 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,956,984.90. This trade represents a 0.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 8,500 shares of company stock worth $497,715. 0.44% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.