Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB Stock Position Raised by PNC Financial Services Group Inc.

PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its position in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 3.9% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 315,472 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after acquiring an additional 11,912 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc.’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $22,960,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted 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 worth $8,052,537,000 after buying an additional 883,245 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised 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 valued at $4,086,344,000 after buying an additional 1,296,991 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in Williams Companies by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 46,053,873 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $2,768,298,000 after buying an additional 2,100,164 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in Williams Companies by 11.0% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 33,572,067 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $2,018,017,000 after acquiring an additional 3,314,851 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its stake in Williams Companies by 21.3% in the 4th quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 21,325,482 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,281,875,000 after acquiring an additional 3,748,126 shares in the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Williams Companies Price Performance

WMB opened at $73.96 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $74.19 and a 200 day moving average price of $71.81. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $55.82 and a 1 year high of $80.07. The stock has a market cap of $90.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.44, a PEG ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 0.57.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued its earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.73 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.10. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 18.34% and a net margin of 23.39%.The company had revenue of $3.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.28 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.60 EPS. The business’s revenue was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. Analysts forecast that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 29th. Investors of record on Friday, June 12th were issued a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 12th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.8%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 92.11%.

Insider Transactions at Williams Companies

In other Williams Companies news, CFO John Dean Porter sold 50,000 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.37, for a total value of $3,768,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 196,567 shares in the company, valued at $14,815,254.79. The trade was a 20.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Glen G. Jasek sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.15, for a total transaction 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. This represents a 4.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 68,500 shares of company stock worth $5,182,655. Corporate insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on WMB shares. TD Cowen raised their price objective on Williams Companies from $81.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $87.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $78.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $88.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $83.56.

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.