Sterling Capital Management LLC Raises Position in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Sterling Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 1,110.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 100,107 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 91,840 shares during the quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $7,286,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Mill Creek Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Mill Creek Capital Advisors LLC now owns 6,000 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $361,000 after buying an additional 141 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. grew its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 15,309 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $920,000 after acquiring an additional 148 shares during the period. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Williams Companies by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 12,646 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $760,000 after acquiring an additional 149 shares in the last quarter. Great Diamond Partners LLC increased its holdings in Williams Companies by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Great Diamond Partners LLC now owns 34,870 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $2,096,000 after acquiring an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Betterment LLC raised its stake in Williams Companies by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Betterment LLC now owns 4,766 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $286,000 after acquiring an additional 154 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Price Performance

WMB stock opened at $78.00 on Friday. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52 week low of $55.82 and a 52 week high of $80.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $95.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $73.82 and a two-hundred day simple moving average 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 posted its earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.73 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $3.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.28 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 23.39% and a return on equity of 18.34%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.60 EPS. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. 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 payout ratio is presently 92.11%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Larry C. Larsen sold 12,000 shares of the business’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 transaction, the chief operating officer owned 98,219 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,511,789.12. The trade was a 10.89% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Glen G. Jasek sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.15, for a total value of $195,375.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 54,101 shares in the company, valued at $4,227,993.15. The trade was a 4.42% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders have sold 68,500 shares of company stock valued at $5,177,835. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently weighed in on WMB shares. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Williams Companies from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $82.00 target price for the company in a report on Monday, April 20th. UBS Group raised their price target on Williams Companies from $89.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on Williams Companies from $81.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Wolfe Research raised Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Scotiabank increased their target price on Williams Companies from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Williams Companies has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $82.40.

Williams Companies 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.