Partners Group Holding AG Sells 109,414 Shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Partners Group Holding AG cut its stake in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 14.3% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 654,829 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 109,414 shares during the quarter. Williams Companies comprises approximately 2.3% of Partners Group Holding AG’s holdings, making the stock its 14th largest holding. Partners Group Holding AG owned approximately 0.05% of Williams Companies worth $41,483,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of WMB. Hartford Funds Management Co LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the second quarter valued at $29,000. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp bought a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the 2nd quarter valued at about $32,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the 2nd quarter valued at about $35,000. Salomon & Ludwin LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $35,000. Finally, Aspect Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 81.3% during the second quarter. Aspect Partners LLC now owns 582 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 261 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on WMB shares. Citigroup boosted 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. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Tudor Pickering raised Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 1st. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Williams Companies from $69.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Williams Companies from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Williams Companies currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $75.36.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams Companies

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 27,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.92, for a total transaction of $1,968,840.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 293,159 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,377,154.28. This trade represents a 8.43% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders have sold a total of 31,000 shares of company stock valued at $2,225,420 in the last quarter. 0.44% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Shares of WMB opened at $74.01 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $90.38 billion, a PE ratio of 34.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.65. 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 company’s fifty day moving average price is $64.70 and its 200-day moving average price is $61.57. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1-year low of $51.58 and a 1-year high of $74.09.

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

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be issued a $0.525 dividend. This is an increase from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is currently 93.46%.

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.