Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC Sells 12,886 Shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC reduced its position in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 5.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 241,306 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 12,886 shares during the quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $17,562,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Towne Trust Company N.A lifted its position in Williams Companies by 60.2% in the 4th quarter. Towne Trust Company N.A now owns 431 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 162 shares during the last quarter. Main Street Group LTD purchased a new position in Williams Companies in the 1st quarter worth $26,000. Motiv8 Investments LLC purchased a new position in Williams Companies in the 4th quarter worth $27,000. Clearstead Trust LLC lifted its stake in Williams Companies by 62.2% in the fourth quarter. Clearstead Trust LLC now owns 485 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 186 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kemnay Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new stake in Williams Companies during the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. 86.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Williams Companies Trading Down 1.9%

NYSE:WMB opened at $73.34 on Friday. Williams Companies, Inc. has a one year low of $55.82 and a one year high of $80.07. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $74.37 and its 200 day simple moving average is $71.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $89.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.17, a PEG ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.76.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.10. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 18.34% and a net margin of 23.39%.The business had revenue of $3.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.28 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.60 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 12th were issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 12th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 92.11%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Larry C. Larsen sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.48, for a total transaction of $917,760.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 98,219 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,511,789.12. This trade represents a 10.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO John Dean Porter sold 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.37, for a total value of $3,768,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 196,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,815,254.79. This trade represents a 20.28% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 68,500 shares of company stock valued at $5,182,655. Company insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on WMB. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Williams Companies from $88.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. Citigroup increased 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, May 8th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $87.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $81.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Williams Companies has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $83.56.

Williams Companies Company 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.