Empowered Funds LLC Takes $12.38 Million Position in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Empowered Funds LLC bought a new position in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 166,568 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,383,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WMB. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake 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 valued at $740,000 after buying an additional 3,969 shares during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in Williams Companies by 5.5% during the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,635 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $291,000 after acquiring an additional 242 shares during the period. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina raised its position in Williams Companies by 2.1% during the second 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 in the last quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC lifted its holdings in Williams Companies by 3.0% in the second quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 10,248 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $644,000 after acquiring an additional 296 shares during the period. Finally, Ieq Capital LLC boosted its position in 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 purchasing an additional 101,574 shares in the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Williams Companies Stock Down 0.6%

WMB opened at $73.75 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $90.21 billion, a PE ratio of 29.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.58. Williams Companies, Inc. has a twelve month low of $56.08 and a twelve month high of $80.07. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $73.46 and a 200 day moving average price of $73.33. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83.

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

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 28th. Investors of record on Friday, September 11th will be given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 11th. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is presently 83.67%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WMB has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $73.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce raised their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “outperformer” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on Williams Companies from $83.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, August 10th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $85.60.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 13,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.87, for a total value of $973,310.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 268,159 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,077,064.33. This represents a 4.62% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Over the last three months, insiders sold 17,000 shares of company stock valued at $1,262,930. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.