Hennessy Advisors Inc. Cuts Stock Position in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Hennessy Advisors Inc. lessened its holdings in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 2.0% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 441,321 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 8,961 shares during the period. Williams Companies accounts for 1.0% of Hennessy Advisors Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest holding. Hennessy Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $32,808,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in WMB. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its holdings 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 buying an additional 3,969 shares during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in Williams Companies by 5.5% during the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,635 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $291,000 after buying an additional 242 shares during the last quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina raised its position in Williams Companies by 2.1% in the second quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 568,928 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $35,734,000 after acquiring an additional 11,926 shares during the period. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC grew 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 valued at $644,000 after acquiring an additional 296 shares during the period. Finally, Ieq Capital LLC grew 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 valued at $10,366,000 after acquiring an additional 101,574 shares during the period. 86.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Williams Companies Trading Down 0.6%

Shares of WMB opened at $73.75 on Friday. Williams Companies, Inc. has a twelve month low of $56.08 and a twelve month high of $80.07. The stock has a market cap of $90.21 billion, a PE ratio of 29.38, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $73.46 and its 200-day moving average price is $73.33.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The pipeline company reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.50. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 18.49% and a net margin of 25.17%.The firm had revenue of $3.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.83 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.46 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. 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 2.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on WMB shares. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target 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. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Williams Companies from $78.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce boosted their target price on Williams Companies from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “outperformer” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Scotiabank increased their price target on Williams Companies from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $85.60.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams Companies

In other news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 13,000 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction 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 sale, the senior vice president directly owned 268,159 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,077,064.33. The trade was a 4.62% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 17,000 shares of company stock worth $1,262,930. Company insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

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.