Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB Shares Sold by Convergence Investment Partners LLC

Convergence Investment Partners LLC trimmed its holdings in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 1.4% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 34,342 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 494 shares during the quarter. Convergence Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $2,157,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Williams Companies by 0.6% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 131,163,184 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $7,838,312,000 after buying an additional 807,019 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake 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 last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG lifted its stake in Williams Companies by 5.6% in the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 17,520,491 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,047,025,000 after buying an additional 932,998 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in Williams Companies by 0.4% in the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 15,291,842 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $913,840,000 after buying an additional 54,902 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in Williams Companies by 45.0% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 11,339,078 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $677,623,000 after buying an additional 3,519,370 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the 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 sale, the senior vice president owned 311,645 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,956,984.90. This trade represents a 0.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Larry C. Larsen sold 4,500 shares of the 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 sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 77,612 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,537,973.64. The trade was a 5.48% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 8,500 shares of company stock worth $497,715. Corporate insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WMB has been the subject of a number of research reports. CIBC upgraded Williams Companies from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and set a $64.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, August 15th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on Williams Companies in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $72.00 price objective for the company. BMO Capital Markets began coverage on Williams Companies in a research note on Friday, September 19th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $66.00 price target for the company. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Williams Companies from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Finally, Argus restated a “buy” rating and set a $66.00 price target on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Thursday, August 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $66.73.

Williams Companies Stock Down 2.4%

Williams Companies stock opened at $57.50 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $70.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.65. Williams Companies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $51.46 and a fifty-two week high of $65.55. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $60.26 and its two-hundred day moving average is $59.37.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $2.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.90 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 21.63% and a return on equity of 16.23%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company 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 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 29th. Investors of record on Friday, September 12th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 12th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.5%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 100.50%.

Williams Companies Company Profile

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.