Smith Salley Wealth Management Purchases Shares of 14,440 Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Smith Salley Wealth Management acquired a new stake in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 14,440 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,051,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH bought a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $4,627,000. Gabelli Funds LLC boosted its holdings in Williams Companies by 7.4% in the fourth quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 261,000 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $15,689,000 after acquiring an additional 17,900 shares in the last quarter. Stephens Inc. AR boosted its holdings in Williams Companies by 8.9% in the fourth quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 164,900 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $9,912,000 after acquiring an additional 13,438 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in Williams Companies by 21.0% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,105,570 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $125,839,000 after purchasing an additional 365,546 shares during the period. Finally, SIR Capital Management L.P. increased its position in Williams Companies by 40.0% during the 4th quarter. SIR Capital Management L.P. now owns 525,232 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $31,572,000 after purchasing an additional 150,032 shares during the period. 86.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on WMB shares. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $82.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $89.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Williams Companies from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $82.00 price objective for the company in a report on Monday, April 20th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Williams Companies from $78.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Williams Companies from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $82.40.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Larry C. Larsen sold 12,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.48, for a total transaction of $917,760.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 98,219 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,511,789.12. This trade represents a 10.89% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.35, for a total value of $152,700.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 287,159 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,924,589.65. The trade was a 0.69% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 68,500 shares of company stock worth $5,177,835. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Williams Companies Stock Up 2.5%

Shares of Williams Companies stock opened at $74.95 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The company has a 50-day moving average of $73.41 and a 200 day moving average of $69.43. The firm has a market cap of $91.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.87, a PEG ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.58. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $55.82 and a 1 year high of $80.07.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.73 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.10. Williams Companies had a net margin of 23.39% and a return on equity of 18.34%. The business had revenue of $3.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.28 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.60 earnings per share. Williams Companies’s quarterly revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 12th will be given a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 12th. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is currently 92.11%.

About Williams Companies

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.