Janney Montgomery Scott LLC Makes New Investment in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Janney Montgomery Scott LLC purchased a new position in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund purchased 762,479 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $56,683,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of WMB. Main Street Group LTD bought a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the first quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Allied Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Williams Companies in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in Williams Companies by 59.4% during the 1st quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC now owns 416 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 155 shares in the last quarter. Motiv8 Investments LLC acquired a new position in Williams Companies during the 4th quarter worth $27,000. Finally, Cornerstone Planning Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 102.5% in the first quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 480 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 243 shares in the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on WMB shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $88.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. Barclays upped their target price on Williams Companies from $73.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Citigroup increased their price target on Williams Companies from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Williams Companies from $78.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on Williams Companies from $87.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Three 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $85.33.

Insider Activity at Williams Companies

In related news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.65, for a total value of $141,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 281,159 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,863,883.35. This represents a 0.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Williams Companies Stock Up 2.7%

WMB stock opened at $75.04 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83, a current ratio of 0.48 and a quick ratio of 0.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $91.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 0.58. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52-week low of $55.82 and a 52-week high of $80.07. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $73.27 and its 200-day simple moving average is $72.90.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced 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. The firm 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 business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.46 EPS. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.350-2.350 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.43 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 11th will be given a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 11th. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is currently 83.67%.

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.