Meiji Yasuda America Inc Makes New Investment in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Meiji Yasuda America Inc bought a new position in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm bought 65,937 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,963,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of WMB. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 40.9% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 13,680 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $740,000 after acquiring an additional 3,969 shares during 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 worth $291,000 after purchasing an additional 242 shares during the last quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina increased its position in shares of Williams Companies by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 568,928 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $35,734,000 after purchasing an additional 11,926 shares during the last quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC increased its position in shares of Williams Companies by 3.0% during the 2nd quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 10,248 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $644,000 after purchasing an additional 296 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ieq Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Williams Companies by 160.1% during the 2nd quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 165,035 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $10,366,000 after purchasing an additional 101,574 shares during the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

NYSE WMB opened at $71.66 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $87.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.43, a P/E/G ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $73.43 and a two-hundred day moving average of $68.83. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1-year low of $55.82 and a 1-year high of $80.07.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released its earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $3.03 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.28 billion. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 18.34% and a net margin of 23.39%.Williams Companies’s revenue was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.60 EPS. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.44 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 12th will be given a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 12th. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is currently 92.11%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WMB has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Wolfe Research raised Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. TD Cowen raised their price objective on Williams Companies from $81.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Truist Financial initiated coverage on Williams Companies in a research report on Tuesday, March 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $84.00 price objective for the company. UBS Group raised their price objective on Williams Companies from $89.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce raised their price objective on Williams Companies from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “outperformer” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Four 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $82.40.

Insider Transactions at Williams Companies

In other news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.35, for a total value of $152,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 287,159 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,924,589.65. This trade represents a 0.69% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Larry C. Larsen sold 12,000 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.48, for a total value of $917,760.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 98,219 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,511,789.12. The trade was a 10.89% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 68,500 shares of company stock valued at $5,177,835. 0.47% of the stock is owned by 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.