Prospera Financial Services Inc Has $3.89 Million Stake in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Prospera Financial Services Inc grew its stake in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 15.9% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 61,962 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after buying an additional 8,514 shares during the quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $3,893,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in WMB. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its position in Williams Companies by 40.9% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 13,680 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $740,000 after buying an additional 3,969 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 3.4% in the 1st quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 189,549 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $11,327,000 after acquiring an additional 6,232 shares during the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System boosted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 357,747 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $21,379,000 after acquiring an additional 7,267 shares in the last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund boosted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 13.1% during the 1st quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 705,020 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $42,132,000 after acquiring an additional 81,557 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Q3 Asset Management bought a new stake in Williams Companies during the 1st quarter worth $252,000. 86.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.62, for a total value of $115,240.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 311,645 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,956,984.90. This trade represents a 0.64% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

NYSE:WMB opened at $59.53 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. Williams Companies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $51.58 and a fifty-two week high of $65.55. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $60.38 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $59.41. The company has a market capitalization of $72.70 billion, a PE ratio of 29.92, a P/E/G ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 0.63.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 3rd. The pipeline company reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by ($0.02). Williams Companies had a net margin of 21.63% and a return on equity of 16.23%. The firm had revenue of $2.92 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.87 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.43 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Williams Companies has set its FY 2025 guidance at 2.010-2.190 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 12th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 12th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.4%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is 103.09%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Williams Companies from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $63.00 price objective on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $70.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $72.00 to $70.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $67.86.

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.