Van Lanschot Kempen Investment Management N.V. Grows Stake in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Van Lanschot Kempen Investment Management N.V. raised its stake in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 7.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 434,530 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after acquiring an additional 28,421 shares during the period. Van Lanschot Kempen Investment Management N.V.’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $26,120,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 133,963,343 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $8,052,537,000 after acquiring an additional 883,245 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 15.9% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 48,586,299 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $3,077,942,000 after buying an additional 6,668,950 shares during the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 21.3% during the fourth quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 21,325,482 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,281,875,000 after buying an additional 3,748,126 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG boosted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 20,036,698 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,204,406,000 after buying an additional 239,732 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 1.1% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 14,575,898 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $923,383,000 after buying an additional 158,077 shares during the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Williams Companies Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of NYSE:WMB opened at $71.92 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $87.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.54, a PEG ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.83. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $73.44 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $68.85. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52-week low of $55.82 and a 52-week high of $80.07.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $3.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.28 billion. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 18.34% and a net margin of 23.39%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.60 earnings per share. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. Analysts expect 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 92.11%.

Insider Transactions at Williams Companies

In other Williams Companies news, COO Larry C. Larsen sold 12,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.48, for a total value of $917,760.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 98,219 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,511,789.12. This trade represents a 10.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Glen G. Jasek sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.15, for a total value of $195,375.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 54,101 shares in the company, valued at $4,227,993.15. The trade was a 4.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders sold 68,500 shares of company stock valued at $5,177,835. Company insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on WMB shares. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Williams Companies from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. Wolfe Research raised Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Williams Companies from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $82.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 20th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on Williams Companies from $81.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on Williams Companies from $82.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Williams Companies has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $82.40.

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.