Adell Harriman & Carpenter Inc. Raises Stake in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Adell Harriman & Carpenter Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 1.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 456,261 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,114 shares during the quarter. Williams Companies accounts for about 1.6% of Adell Harriman & Carpenter Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest holding. Adell Harriman & Carpenter Inc.’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $27,426,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of WMB. Towne Trust Company N.A lifted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 60.2% during the 4th quarter. Towne Trust Company N.A now owns 431 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 162 shares in the last quarter. WHI TRUST Co LLC acquired a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Entrust Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Financial Life Planners acquired a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the third quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, Turning Point Benefit Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the third quarter valued at about $46,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Shares of WMB stock opened at $79.32 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $96.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.79, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 0.61. Williams Companies, Inc. has a one year low of $55.82 and a one year high of $79.59. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $73.39 and its 200-day simple moving average is $67.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.83.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.73 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.10. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 18.34% and a net margin of 23.39%.The firm had revenue of $3.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.28 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.60 earnings per share. Williams Companies’s quarterly revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 29th. Investors of record on Friday, June 12th will be given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 12th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 92.11%.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Todd J. Rinke sold 7,364 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.39, for a total transaction of $547,807.96. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 26,055 shares in the company, valued at $1,938,231.45. This trade represents a 22.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Larry C. Larsen sold 12,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.48, for a total transaction of $917,760.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 98,219 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,511,789.12. The trade was a 10.89% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 117,869 shares of company stock valued at $8,814,067 over the last three months. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on WMB. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Williams Companies from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Williams Companies from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Truist Financial began coverage on Williams Companies in a report on Tuesday, March 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $84.00 price target for the company. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on Williams Companies from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 10th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $80.47.

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.