Aviva PLC Acquires 85,338 Shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Aviva PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 5.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,615,352 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 85,338 shares during the period. Aviva PLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $97,099,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in WMB. Towne Trust Company N.A raised its stake in Williams Companies by 60.2% in the 4th quarter. Towne Trust Company N.A now owns 431 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 162 shares during the period. Clearstead Trust LLC raised its stake in Williams Companies by 62.2% in the 4th quarter. Clearstead Trust LLC now owns 485 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 186 shares during the period. WHI TRUST Co LLC bought a new stake in Williams Companies in the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. First Command Advisory Services Inc. raised its stake in Williams Companies by 216.8% in the 4th quarter. First Command Advisory Services Inc. now owns 491 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 336 shares during the period. Finally, Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC bought a new stake in Williams Companies in the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Larry C. Larsen sold 12,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.48, for a total transaction of $917,760.00. Following the completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO John Dean Porter sold 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.37, for a total value of $3,768,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 196,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,815,254.79. The trade was a 20.28% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 68,500 shares of company stock worth $5,177,835 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Trading Down 0.8%

Shares of Williams Companies stock opened at $71.66 on Friday. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12-month low of $55.82 and a 12-month high of $80.07. The company has a market cap of $87.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.43, a PEG ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $73.43 and its 200-day moving average price is $68.83.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.10. Williams Companies had a net margin of 23.39% and a return on equity of 18.34%. The firm had revenue of $3.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.28 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.60 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 12th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is presently 92.11%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on WMB shares. Wall Street Zen upgraded Williams Companies from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, April 5th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Williams Companies from $78.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Wolfe Research upgraded Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. UBS Group lifted their target price on Williams Companies from $89.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Williams Companies from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $82.00 price target on the stock in a report on Monday, April 20th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $82.40.

Williams Companies Company 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.