Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) SVP Payvand Fazel Sells 2,898 Shares

Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) SVP Payvand Fazel sold 2,898 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 represents a 8.36% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

Williams Companies Stock Down 0.3%

Williams Companies stock opened at $73.68 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $90.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.43, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.63. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52-week low of $51.58 and a 52-week high of $76.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.53. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $68.83 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $63.28.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 10th. The pipeline company reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.10 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.47 earnings per share. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. 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. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is currently 98.13%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on WMB. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on Williams Companies from $78.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Zacks Research raised Williams Companies from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Williams Companies from $78.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price target on Williams Companies from $75.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. Two investment 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.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $76.50.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Williams Companies

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Williams Companies in the 4th quarter valued at about $747,749,000. BROOKFIELD Corp ON boosted its holdings in Williams Companies by 190.3% in the second quarter. BROOKFIELD Corp ON now owns 12,028,186 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $755,490,000 after acquiring an additional 7,884,730 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in Williams Companies by 15.9% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 48,586,299 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $3,077,942,000 after acquiring an additional 6,668,950 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its stake in Williams Companies by 21.3% in the fourth quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 21,325,482 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,281,875,000 after acquiring an additional 3,748,126 shares during the period. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC increased its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 4,992.2% during the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 3,704,739 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $222,692,000 after acquiring an additional 3,631,986 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

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.