Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB Shares Acquired by Founders Financial Securities LLC

Founders Financial Securities LLC lifted its stake in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 23.8% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 60,239 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 11,570 shares during the period. Founders Financial Securities LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $3,621,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,540,556 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $287,644,000 after purchasing an additional 134,777 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 9.5% during the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 184,123 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $11,664,000 after purchasing an additional 16,027 shares during the period. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH acquired a new stake in Williams Companies in the 4th quarter valued at about $4,627,000. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp grew its stake in Williams Companies by 3,344.8% in the 3rd quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp now owns 17,465 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,106,000 after acquiring an additional 16,958 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Gabelli Funds LLC grew its stake in Williams Companies by 7.4% in the 4th quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 261,000 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $15,689,000 after acquiring an additional 17,900 shares during the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Williams Companies

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Payvand Fazel sold 2,898 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.15, for a total transaction of $211,988.70. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 31,766 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,323,682.90. This trade represents a 8.36% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Glen G. Jasek sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.15, for a total transaction of $195,375.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 54,101 shares in the company, valued at $4,227,993.15. This represents a 4.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 80,762 shares of company stock worth $6,088,112 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on WMB shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $80.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 13th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 10th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $89.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, Truist Financial started coverage on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Tuesday, March 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $84.00 price objective on the stock. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $82.40.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Williams Companies stock opened at $71.41 on Friday. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12-month low of $55.82 and a 12-month high of $80.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $87.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 0.61. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $73.77 and its two-hundred day moving average is $68.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.76.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $3.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.28 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.60 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 12th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 92.11%.

About Williams Companies

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.