M.D. Sass LLC Cuts Stake in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

M.D. Sass LLC decreased its position in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 7.4% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,087,582 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 86,338 shares during the quarter. Williams Companies makes up 5.3% of M.D. Sass LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest position. M.D. Sass LLC owned 0.09% of Williams Companies worth $80,851,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Cynosure Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the second quarter valued at approximately $647,000. Gabelli Funds LLC boosted its holdings in Williams Companies by 7.4% in the fourth quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 261,000 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $15,689,000 after acquiring an additional 17,900 shares in the last quarter. SIR Capital Management L.P. increased its position in Williams Companies by 40.0% during the 4th quarter. SIR Capital Management L.P. now owns 525,232 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $31,572,000 after purchasing an additional 150,032 shares during the period. Stephens Inc. AR increased its position in Williams Companies by 8.9% during the 4th quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 164,900 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $9,912,000 after purchasing an additional 13,438 shares during the period. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC raised its holdings in Williams Companies by 56.3% in the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 57,550 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $3,459,000 after purchasing an additional 20,740 shares in the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Shares of Williams Companies stock opened at $75.25 on Wednesday. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12 month low of $55.82 and a 12 month high of $80.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $92.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.98, a P/E/G ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a current ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $73.38 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $73.07.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released its earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The pipeline company reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50. The firm had revenue of $3.05 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.83 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 25.17% and a return on equity of 18.49%. The company’s revenue was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.46 EPS. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.350-2.350 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 11th will be issued a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 11th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is 83.67%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on WMB shares. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $82.00 target price on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $87.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce lifted their price objective on Williams Companies from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “outperformer” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Williams Companies from $78.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Williams Companies currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $85.60.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 13,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.87, for a total transaction of $973,310.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 268,159 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,077,064.33. This trade represents a 4.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders have sold a total of 17,000 shares of company stock valued at $1,262,930 in the last 90 days. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.