ING Groep NV Purchases 171,055 Shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

ING Groep NV raised its position in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 108.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 328,925 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 171,055 shares during the period. ING Groep NV’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $19,772,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH acquired a new position in Williams Companies during the 4th quarter valued at about $4,627,000. Gabelli Funds LLC increased its position in Williams Companies by 7.4% during the 4th quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 261,000 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $15,689,000 after buying an additional 17,900 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in Williams Companies by 21.0% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,105,570 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $125,839,000 after buying an additional 365,546 shares in the last quarter. Stephens Inc. AR increased its position in Williams Companies by 8.9% during the 4th quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 164,900 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $9,912,000 after buying an additional 13,438 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alps Advisors Inc. increased its position in Williams Companies by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 457,543 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $28,985,000 after buying an additional 17,974 shares in the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Williams Companies

In other news, COO Larry C. Larsen sold 12,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.48, for a total value of $917,760.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 98,219 shares in the company, valued at $7,511,789.12. This represents a 10.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Glen G. Jasek sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.15, for a total value of $195,375.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 54,101 shares in the company, valued at $4,227,993.15. The trade was a 4.42% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 78,762 shares of company stock valued at $5,937,632. 0.47% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Williams Companies Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of WMB stock opened at $72.00 on Monday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $73.55 and its 200-day simple moving average is $68.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $87.95 billion, a PE ratio of 31.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 0.58. Williams Companies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $55.82 and a fifty-two week high of $80.07.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued its earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.73 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.28 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.60 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. Equities 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 12th will be paid a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 12th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.9%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 92.11%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Williams Companies from $78.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Williams Companies from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. Wolfe Research raised Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Scotiabank increased their price objective on Williams Companies from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Williams Companies from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 10th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $82.40.

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.