Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB Shares Sold by Jennison Associates LLC

Jennison Associates LLC trimmed its position in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 11.3% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,442,793 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 312,085 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC owned about 0.20% of Williams Companies worth $181,597,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Williams Companies by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 133,963,343 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $8,052,537,000 after acquiring an additional 883,245 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Williams Companies by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 67,981,106 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $4,086,344,000 after acquiring an additional 1,296,991 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in Williams Companies by 4.8% in the 4th 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 acquiring an additional 2,100,164 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 11.0% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 33,572,067 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $2,018,017,000 after purchasing an additional 3,314,851 shares during the period. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 21.3% during the 4th quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 21,325,482 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,281,875,000 after purchasing an additional 3,748,126 shares during the period. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.65, for a total transaction of $141,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 281,159 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,863,883.35. This represents a 0.71% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

NYSE WMB opened at $75.04 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83, a current ratio of 0.48 and a quick ratio of 0.43. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1-year low of $55.82 and a 1-year high of $80.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $91.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 0.58. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $73.27 and its 200-day simple moving average is $72.90.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The pipeline company reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50. Williams Companies had a net margin of 25.17% and a return on equity of 18.49%. The firm had revenue of $3.05 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.83 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.46 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.350-2.350 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.43 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 28th. Investors of record on Friday, September 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 11th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is presently 83.67%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Barclays increased their target price on Williams Companies from $73.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Williams Companies from $78.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on Williams Companies from $81.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 8th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Williams Companies presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $85.33.

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.