Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co Invests $16.26 Million in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co bought a new position in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm bought 218,700 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,258,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WMB. Main Street Group LTD acquired a new stake in Williams Companies in the first quarter worth about $26,000. Allied Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Bayforest Capital Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Williams Companies by 59.4% in the 1st quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC now owns 416 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 155 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Motiv8 Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Williams Companies in the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. 86.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Williams Companies News

Here are the key news stories impacting Williams Companies this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley raised its price target for Williams Companies to $103, signaling substantial potential upside from recent trading levels and providing a constructive counterpoint to the earnings estimate cuts. Morgan Stanley Increases Williams Companies Price Target to $103
• Neutral Sentiment: The company’s latest reported quarter was solid: Williams earned $0.50 per share, matching consensus, while revenue of $3.05 billion exceeded expectations and increased 9.8% year over year. Its fee-based pipeline operations provide relatively stable cash flows.
• Negative Sentiment: US Capital Advisors lowered its EPS forecasts across several periods, including fourth-quarter 2026 EPS to $0.57 from $0.60, first-quarter 2027 EPS to $0.55 from $0.59, second-quarter 2027 EPS to $0.40 from $0.48, and third-quarter 2027 EPS to $0.50 from $0.55.
• Negative Sentiment: The firm also reduced its full-year 2027 EPS estimate to $2.07 from $2.28 and its 2028 forecast to $2.67 from $2.86. These revisions suggest analysts see weaker near- to medium-term earnings growth than previously expected and are likely the main reason the stock has decreased.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:WMB opened at $70.71 on Friday. Williams Companies, Inc. has a twelve month low of $56.08 and a twelve month high of $80.07. The company has a current ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83. The company has a market cap of $86.49 billion, a PE ratio of 28.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 0.58. The company’s 50 day moving average is $73.38 and its 200 day moving average is $73.13.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 3rd. The pipeline company reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.50. The business 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%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.46 EPS. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.350-2.350 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.45 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on WMB. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $78.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $82.00 price objective on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Truist Financial upped their target price on Williams Companies from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. Finally, TD Cowen raised their target price on Williams Companies from $81.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. 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 company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $85.60.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 13,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.87, for a total transaction of $973,310.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 268,159 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,077,064.33. This trade represents a 4.62% 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 17,000 shares of company stock valued at $1,262,930 over the last 90 days. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.