Prudential PLC Raises Stock Holdings in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Prudential PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 1,608.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 424,959 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 400,081 shares during the quarter. Prudential PLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $25,544,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Williams Companies by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 133,963,343 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $8,052,537,000 after buying an additional 883,245 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in Williams Companies by 15.9% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 48,586,299 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $3,077,942,000 after buying an additional 6,668,950 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Williams Companies by 1.1% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 14,575,898 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $923,383,000 after buying an additional 158,077 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Williams Companies in the fourth quarter worth approximately $747,749,000. Finally, BROOKFIELD Corp ON boosted its stake in Williams Companies by 190.3% in the second quarter. BROOKFIELD Corp ON now owns 12,028,186 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $755,490,000 after buying an additional 7,884,730 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Shares of WMB stock opened at $72.28 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.83. Williams Companies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $55.82 and a fifty-two week high of $80.07. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $73.59 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $68.39. The company has a market capitalization of $88.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.70, a PEG ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 0.58.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.73 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.10. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 18.34% and a net margin of 23.39%.The firm had revenue of $3.03 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.28 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.60 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. Analysts expect that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.44 earnings per share for the current 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 given a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 12th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is presently 92.11%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on WMB shares. Scotiabank upped their target price on Williams Companies from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Wolfe Research raised Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Williams Companies from $78.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, TD Cowen upped their target price on Williams Companies from $81.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $82.40.

Insider Transactions at Williams Companies

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Payvand Fazel sold 2,898 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.15, for a total value of $211,988.70. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 31,766 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,323,682.90. The trade was a 8.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Larry C. Larsen sold 12,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.48, for a total value of $917,760.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 98,219 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,511,789.12. The trade was a 10.89% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 78,762 shares of company stock valued at $5,937,632. Insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

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.