Sanctuary Advisors LLC Makes New Investment in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new position in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm bought 461,473 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $34,306,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the fourth quarter valued at about $747,749,000. BROOKFIELD Corp ON increased its stake in Williams Companies by 190.3% in the 2nd quarter. BROOKFIELD Corp ON now owns 12,028,186 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $755,490,000 after buying an additional 7,884,730 shares during the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP purchased a new stake in Williams Companies in the 2nd quarter valued at about $500,305,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA bought a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $354,184,000. Finally, Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board bought a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $329,094,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Trending Headlines about Williams Companies

Here are the key news stories impacting Williams Companies this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley raised its price target for Williams Companies to $103, signaling substantial potential upside from recent trading levels and providing a constructive counterpoint to the earnings estimate cuts. Morgan Stanley Increases Williams Companies Price Target to $103
• Neutral Sentiment: The company’s latest reported quarter was solid: Williams earned $0.50 per share, matching consensus, while revenue of $3.05 billion exceeded expectations and increased 9.8% year over year. Its fee-based pipeline operations provide relatively stable cash flows.
• Negative Sentiment: US Capital Advisors lowered its EPS forecasts across several periods, including fourth-quarter 2026 EPS to $0.57 from $0.60, first-quarter 2027 EPS to $0.55 from $0.59, second-quarter 2027 EPS to $0.40 from $0.48, and third-quarter 2027 EPS to $0.50 from $0.55.
• Negative Sentiment: The firm also reduced its full-year 2027 EPS estimate to $2.07 from $2.28 and its 2028 forecast to $2.67 from $2.86. These revisions suggest analysts see weaker near- to medium-term earnings growth than previously expected and are likely the main reason the stock has decreased.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently issued reports on WMB. TD Cowen upped their target price on Williams Companies from $81.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Williams Companies from $88.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce boosted their price objective on Williams Companies from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “outperformer” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Williams Companies from $89.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on Williams Companies from $73.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $85.60.

Williams Companies Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of WMB stock opened at $70.71 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83. The firm has a market cap of $86.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.17, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a 50 day moving average of $73.38 and a 200-day moving average of $73.18. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12-month low of $56.08 and a 12-month high of $80.07.

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

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 11th will be given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 11th. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is 83.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams Companies

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 13,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.87, for a total value of $973,310.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold a total of 17,000 shares of company stock valued at $1,262,930 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

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.