Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC Lowers Stock Position in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC trimmed its holdings in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 6.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 90,658 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 6,737 shares during the quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $6,598,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of WMB. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Williams Companies in the fourth quarter valued at $747,749,000. BROOKFIELD Corp ON increased its position in Williams Companies by 190.3% in the 2nd quarter. BROOKFIELD Corp ON now owns 12,028,186 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $755,490,000 after acquiring an additional 7,884,730 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in Williams Companies by 15.9% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 48,586,299 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $3,077,942,000 after acquiring an additional 6,668,950 shares during the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 21.3% in the 4th quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 21,325,482 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,281,875,000 after purchasing an additional 3,748,126 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC grew its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 4,992.2% in the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 3,704,739 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $222,692,000 after purchasing an additional 3,631,986 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Williams Companies

In other Williams Companies news, CFO John Dean Porter sold 50,000 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.37, for a total value of $3,768,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 196,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,815,254.79. The trade was a 20.28% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Glen G. Jasek sold 2,500 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.15, for a total value of $195,375.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 54,101 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,227,993.15. This trade represents a 4.42% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 68,500 shares of company stock valued at $5,177,835. Company insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on WMB. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on Williams Companies from $82.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Williams Companies from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, April 5th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Williams Companies from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $82.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 10th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $82.40.

Williams Companies Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of NYSE WMB opened at $78.00 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $95.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 0.58. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52 week low of $55.82 and a 52 week high of $80.07. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $73.82 and a 200 day moving average price of $69.78. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued its earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.73 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $3.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.28 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.60 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 29th. Investors of record on Friday, June 12th will be paid a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 12th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.