Wedbush Fund Advisers LLC Makes New Investment in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Wedbush Fund Advisers LLC purchased a new position in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 9,349 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $695,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Main Street Group LTD purchased a new position in Williams Companies in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Allied Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the second quarter worth $28,000. Bayforest Capital Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the second quarter valued at $28,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Williams Companies by 59.4% in the first quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC now owns 416 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 155 shares during the period. Finally, Motiv8 Investments LLC acquired a new position in Williams Companies during the 4th quarter worth $27,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce increased their price target on Williams Companies from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “outperformer” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. TD Cowen boosted 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. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $73.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $87.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Tuesday, July 14th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $85.60.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 13,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.87, for a total transaction of $973,310.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 268,159 shares in the company, valued at $20,077,064.33. This trade represents a 4.62% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 17,000 shares of company stock valued at $1,262,930. 0.47% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:WMB opened at $71.00 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $73.36 and its 200 day moving average price is $73.23. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12 month low of $56.08 and a 12 month high of $80.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83, a current ratio of 0.48 and a quick ratio of 0.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $86.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.29, a P/E/G ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 0.58.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The pipeline company reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50. The firm had revenue of $3.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.83 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 25.17% and a return on equity of 18.49%. Williams Companies’s quarterly revenue was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.46 earnings per share. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.350-2.350 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 11th will be issued a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 11th. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is presently 83.67%.

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.