Estabrook Capital Management Trims Stock Position in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Estabrook Capital Management decreased its stake in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 3.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 166,537 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 6,619 shares during the period. Williams Companies accounts for 1.6% of Estabrook Capital Management’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest holding. Estabrook Capital Management’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $10,460,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Stablepoint Partners LLC boosted its stake in Williams Companies by 0.7% in the second quarter. Stablepoint Partners LLC now owns 31,902 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $2,004,000 after acquiring an additional 214 shares in the last quarter. Berry Wealth Group LP lifted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 11.8% in the 2nd quarter. Berry Wealth Group LP now owns 5,847 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $367,000 after purchasing an additional 618 shares during the last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund boosted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 113.6% in the 2nd quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 1,505,701 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $94,573,000 after purchasing an additional 800,681 shares during the period. West Family Investments Inc. grew its stake in Williams Companies by 149.6% during the 2nd quarter. West Family Investments Inc. now owns 9,728 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $611,000 after buying an additional 5,830 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Williamson Legacy Group LLC increased its position in Williams Companies by 37.9% during the second quarter. Williamson Legacy Group LLC now owns 25,361 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,593,000 after buying an additional 6,964 shares during the period. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on WMB shares. Barclays increased their price objective on Williams Companies from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. 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. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $72.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 4th. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their price target on Williams Companies from $69.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $68.21.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.53, for a total transaction of $242,120.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 302,645 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,319,101.85. This represents a 1.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.44% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Williams Companies Stock Up 1.2%

Shares of Williams Companies stock opened at $60.96 on Friday. Williams Companies, Inc. has a one year low of $51.58 and a one year high of $65.55. The company has a market cap of $74.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.63, a PEG ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 0.63. 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 fifty day moving average of $60.86 and a two-hundred day moving average of $59.53.

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

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 12th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 12th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 103.09%.

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.