Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co Grows Holdings in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co raised its stake in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 8.6% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 248,500 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after buying an additional 19,700 shares during the period. Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $15,742,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in Williams Companies by 40.9% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 13,680 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $740,000 after purchasing an additional 3,969 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Williams Companies by 5.5% during the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,635 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $291,000 after purchasing an additional 242 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC raised its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 30.6% during the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 92,116 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $5,786,000 after buying an additional 21,592 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in Williams Companies by 7.4% in the 2nd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 44,835 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $2,816,000 after buying an additional 3,070 shares during the last quarter. Finally, RFG Advisory LLC boosted its stake in Williams Companies by 141.1% in the second quarter. RFG Advisory LLC now owns 8,481 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $533,000 after buying an additional 4,964 shares in the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Shares of Williams Companies stock opened at $71.17 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $62.50 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $60.70. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12-month low of $51.58 and a 12-month high of $72.28. The firm has a market cap of $86.92 billion, a PE ratio of 33.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 10th. The pipeline company reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $3.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.10 billion. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 17.32% and a net margin of 21.90%.During the same quarter 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. As a group, equities analysts expect 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 given a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.0%. This is an increase from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is 93.46%.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.39, for a total transaction of $132,780.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 293,545 shares in the company, valued at $19,488,452.55. This represents a 0.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on WMB shares. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Monday, January 12th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Williams Companies from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $71.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Citigroup raised their price objective on Williams Companies from $70.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted 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. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Williams Companies currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $71.67.

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.