Sterling Investment Counsel LLC Invests $480,000 in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Sterling Investment Counsel LLC acquired a new stake in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 7,993 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $480,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in shares of Williams Companies by 40.9% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 13,680 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $740,000 after purchasing an additional 3,969 shares during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Williams Companies by 5.5% during the second 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 raised its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 568,928 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $35,734,000 after acquiring an additional 11,926 shares during the period. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 3.0% in 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 last quarter. Finally, Ieq Capital LLC lifted 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 worth $10,366,000 after acquiring an additional 101,574 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently weighed in on WMB shares. Truist Financial began coverage on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Tuesday, March 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $84.00 target price for the company. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Williams Companies from $69.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Williams Companies from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, April 5th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on Williams Companies from $78.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 6th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Williams Companies has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $77.47.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.75, for a total transaction of $143,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 289,159 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,747,158.25. This represents a 0.69% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Todd J. Rinke sold 7,364 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.39, for a total value of $547,807.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 26,055 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,938,231.45. The trade was a 22.04% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 53,369 shares of company stock valued at $3,912,512 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Price Performance

WMB stock opened at $71.17 on Friday. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $86.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.26, a P/E/G ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 0.63. The business’s 50-day moving average is $72.93 and its two-hundred day moving average is $65.34. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $55.56 and a 1 year high of $76.87.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 10th. The pipeline company reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by ($0.02). Williams Companies had a return on equity of 17.32% and a net margin of 21.90%.The company had revenue of $3.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.10 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.47 earnings per share. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th were issued a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 13th. This is a positive change from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 98.13%.

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.