Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB Stock Holdings Trimmed by Payden & Rygel

Payden & Rygel lowered its position in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 84.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 32,160 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 180,600 shares during the quarter. Payden & Rygel’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $2,037,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Hartford Funds Management Co LLC bought a new position in Williams Companies during the second quarter worth $29,000. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp bought a new stake in Williams Companies during the second quarter valued at $32,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the second quarter worth $35,000. Salomon & Ludwin LLC bought a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the 3rd quarter worth about $35,000. Finally, Aspect Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 81.3% in the 2nd quarter. Aspect Partners LLC now owns 582 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 261 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on WMB shares. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $70.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Zacks Research raised Williams Companies from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. Scotiabank upgraded Williams Companies from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $66.00 to $84.00 in a research report on Friday, February 13th. UBS Group raised their price target on Williams Companies from $78.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on Williams Companies from $75.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 11th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Williams Companies currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $75.36.

Williams Companies Stock Up 1.1%

WMB opened at $72.94 on Monday. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12 month low of $51.58 and a 12 month high of $73.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83, a current ratio of 0.53 and a quick ratio of 0.48. The stock has a market cap of $89.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.08, a P/E/G ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 0.65. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $63.83 and its 200 day moving average price is $61.27.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 10th. The pipeline company reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by ($0.02). Williams Companies had a return on equity of 17.32% and a net margin of 21.90%.The business had revenue of $3.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.10 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.47 EPS. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. This is a positive change from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is 93.46%.

Insider Activity at Williams Companies

In other news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.39, for a total value of $132,780.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 293,545 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,488,452.55. This represents a 0.68% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

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.