The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Takes Position in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company acquired a new position in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 1,049,204 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $77,998,000.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in Williams Companies by 40.9% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 13,680 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $740,000 after acquiring an additional 3,969 shares during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in Williams Companies by 5.5% in the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,635 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $291,000 after acquiring an additional 242 shares during the last quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina lifted its position in Williams Companies by 2.1% during the second quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 568,928 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $35,734,000 after buying an additional 11,926 shares during the period. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 3.0% during the 2nd quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 10,248 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $644,000 after acquiring an additional 296 shares during the period. Finally, Ieq Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 160.1% in the 2nd quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 165,035 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $10,366,000 after purchasing an additional 101,574 shares during the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Williams Companies

In related news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 13,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.87, for a total transaction of $973,310.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 268,159 shares in the company, valued at $20,077,064.33. This represents a 4.62% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders sold 17,000 shares of company stock valued at $1,262,930 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WMB has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on Williams Companies from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Tuesday, July 14th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $87.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on Williams Companies from $81.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $85.60.

Williams Companies Trading Up 0.0%

NYSE:WMB opened at $71.00 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $73.36 and a 200 day simple moving average of $73.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $86.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1-year low of $56.08 and a 1-year high of $80.07.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released its earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The pipeline company reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.50. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 18.49% and a net margin of 25.17%.The company had revenue of $3.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.83 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.46 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.350-2.350 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 28th. Investors of record on Friday, September 11th will be issued a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 11th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 83.67%.

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.