Natixis Advisors LLC Reduces Holdings in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Natixis Advisors LLC reduced its position in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,584,725 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 23,162 shares during the quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC owned about 0.13% of Williams Companies worth $100,392,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 1.5% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 133,075,340 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $8,358,462,000 after buying an additional 1,912,156 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 27.3% in the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 14,417,821 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $905,583,000 after buying an additional 3,089,390 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the second quarter worth about $765,164,000. BROOKFIELD Corp ON boosted its position in Williams Companies by 190.3% during the second quarter. BROOKFIELD Corp ON now owns 12,028,186 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $755,490,000 after acquiring an additional 7,884,730 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc boosted its position in Williams Companies by 9.9% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 10,056,234 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $631,632,000 after acquiring an additional 903,457 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Williams Companies

In other news, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 10,107 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.91, for a total value of $757,115.37. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 17,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,290,699.30. This represents a 36.97% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 27,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.92, for a total value of $1,968,840.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 293,159 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,377,154.28. The trade was a 8.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 43,107 shares of company stock valued at $3,133,015 over the last quarter. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Shares of WMB stock opened at $74.16 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83, a current ratio of 0.53 and a quick ratio of 0.48. The company has a market capitalization of $90.59 billion, a PE ratio of 34.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.63. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $66.94 and its two-hundred day moving average is $62.48. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12 month low of $51.58 and a 12 month high of $76.87.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its quarterly 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). The firm had revenue of $3.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.10 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 21.90% and a return on equity of 17.32%. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.47 EPS. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. Analysts predict that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. This is a positive change from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.8%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 98.13%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on WMB shares. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $75.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Williams Companies from $69.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Citigroup increased their price target on Williams Companies from $70.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Zacks Research raised Williams Companies from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $75.86.

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.