Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB Shares Sold by M.D. Sass LLC

M.D. Sass LLC decreased its position in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 12.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,173,920 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 165,714 shares during the period. Williams Companies makes up approximately 6.5% of M.D. Sass LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. M.D. Sass LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $85,438,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Williams Companies by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 133,963,343 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $8,052,537,000 after acquiring an additional 883,245 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its position in Williams Companies by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 67,981,106 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $4,086,344,000 after acquiring an additional 1,296,991 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its position in Williams Companies by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 46,053,873 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $2,768,298,000 after acquiring an additional 2,100,164 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 11.0% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 33,572,067 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $2,018,017,000 after purchasing an additional 3,314,851 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 21.3% in the fourth quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 21,325,482 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,281,875,000 after purchasing an additional 3,748,126 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Glen G. Jasek sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The shares were 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 directly owned 54,101 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,227,993.15. This represents a 4.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Larry C. Larsen sold 12,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.48, for a total transaction of $917,760.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 98,219 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,511,789.12. This represents a 10.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 68,500 shares of company stock valued at $5,182,655 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Trading Up 1.0%

NYSE:WMB opened at $75.25 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $74.27 and a 200 day simple moving average of $71.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $91.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 0.57. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1-year low of $55.82 and a 1-year high of $80.07. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99.

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

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 29th. Investors of record on Friday, June 12th were paid a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 12th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 92.11%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on WMB. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $82.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce increased their target price 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. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $87.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Williams Companies from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 18th. Finally, Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Four 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.com, Williams Companies currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $83.56.

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.