Venturi Wealth Management LLC Sells 1,489 Shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Venturi Wealth Management LLC cut its holdings in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 6.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 20,982 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 1,489 shares during the period. Venturi Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $1,318,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WMB. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Williams Companies in the first quarter valued at approximately $335,419,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 45.0% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 11,339,078 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $677,623,000 after purchasing an additional 3,519,370 shares during the period. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 34.0% during the first quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 11,287,921 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $674,566,000 after purchasing an additional 2,861,988 shares during the period. Voya Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Williams Companies by 275.7% in the first quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 2,609,318 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $155,933,000 after buying an additional 1,914,730 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in Williams Companies by 6.0% in the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 29,624,104 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,770,336,000 after buying an additional 1,680,477 shares during the period. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on WMB shares. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 8th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $59.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 30th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Williams Companies from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Friday, June 13th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $74.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 30th. Finally, Cibc World Mkts raised shares of Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Williams Companies presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $65.53.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

NYSE WMB opened at $63.49 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $59.44 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $59.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73, a current ratio of 0.54 and a quick ratio of 0.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $77.42 billion, a PE ratio of 31.90, a P/E/G ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.65. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $48.71 and a 1 year high of $65.55.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.46 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.49 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $2.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.90 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 21.63% and a return on equity of 16.23%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 19.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.43 EPS. Williams Companies has set its FY 2025 guidance at 2.010-2.190 EPS. Analysts predict that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 29th. Investors of record on Friday, September 12th were given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 12th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 100.50%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Larry C. Larsen sold 4,500 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction on Monday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.47, for a total value of $263,115.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 77,612 shares in the company, valued at $4,537,973.64. This trade represents a 5.48% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.62, for a total transaction of $115,240.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 311,645 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,956,984.90. The trade was a 0.64% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 8,500 shares of company stock worth $497,715. 0.44% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Williams Companies

The Williams Companies, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an energy infrastructure company primarily in the United States. It operates through Transmission & Gulf of Mexico, Northeast G&P, West, and Gas & NGL Marketing Services segments. The Transmission & Gulf of Mexico segment comprises natural gas pipelines; Transco, Northwest pipeline, MountainWest, and related natural gas storage facilities; and natural gas gathering and processing, and crude oil production handling and transportation assets in the Gulf Coast region.