Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. Raises Position in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 2,706,923 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 64,351 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $171,484,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in 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 purchasing an additional 3,969 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 5.5% during the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,635 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $291,000 after buying an additional 242 shares during the period. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 29.0% in the 2nd quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 15,369 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $965,000 after purchasing an additional 3,451 shares during the period. Advisory Alpha LLC bought a new stake in Williams Companies during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $223,000. Finally, Howard Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 10.1% during the second quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. now owns 12,715 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $799,000 after purchasing an additional 1,167 shares in the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on WMB shares. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Williams Companies from $69.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on Williams Companies from $78.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Williams Companies from $71.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 11th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $70.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Williams Companies currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $75.36.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Shares of WMB opened at $74.77 on Friday. Williams Companies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $51.58 and a fifty-two week high of $75.49. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $65.02 and a 200-day moving average price of $61.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $91.34 billion, a PE ratio of 34.94, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.53.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 10th. The pipeline company reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.57 by ($0.02). Williams Companies had a net margin of 21.90% and a return on equity of 17.32%. The firm had revenue of $3.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.10 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.47 earnings per share. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 30th. Investors of record on Friday, March 13th will be given a $0.525 dividend. This is an increase from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is currently 93.46%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 27,000 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.92, for a total transaction of $1,968,840.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 293,159 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,377,154.28. This trade represents a 8.43% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 31,000 shares of company stock worth $2,225,420. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.