Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd Buys 85,218 Shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 14.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 684,241 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 85,218 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd owned 0.06% of Williams Companies worth $43,347,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $765,164,000. BROOKFIELD Corp ON raised its position in Williams Companies by 190.3% during 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. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in Williams Companies by 27.3% in the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 14,417,821 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $905,583,000 after acquiring an additional 3,089,390 shares during the last quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership grew its position in shares of Williams Companies by 39.0% in the 2nd quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 6,954,733 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $436,827,000 after acquiring an additional 1,950,485 shares during the period. Finally, Voya Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Williams Companies by 275.7% in the 1st quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 2,609,318 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $155,933,000 after acquiring an additional 1,914,730 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on WMB shares. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 4th. Mizuho raised Williams Companies to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 27th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Williams Companies from $74.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 30th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Williams Companies from $70.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 2nd. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $69.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $68.29.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WMB opened at $60.31 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $73.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 0.64. The business’s 50 day moving average is $59.96 and its 200-day moving average is $59.69. The company has a current ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1-year low of $51.58 and a 1-year high of $65.55.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 3rd. The pipeline company reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $2.92 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.87 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 20.61% and a return on equity of 16.74%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.43 earnings per share. Williams Companies has set its FY 2025 guidance at 2.010-2.190 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 29th. Investors of record on Friday, December 12th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 12th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 103.09%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.90, for a total value of $123,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 297,545 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,418,035.50. The trade was a 0.67% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.44% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Williams Companies 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.