Man Group plc Invests $1.95 Million in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Man Group plc acquired a new stake in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm acquired 26,221 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,949,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position in Williams Companies by 40.9% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 13,680 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $740,000 after buying an additional 3,969 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in Williams Companies by 5.5% in the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,635 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $291,000 after buying an additional 242 shares during the period. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina increased its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 2.1% during the 2nd 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 during the last quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC increased its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 3.0% during the 2nd 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 last quarter. Finally, Ieq Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 160.1% during the 2nd quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 165,035 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $10,366,000 after acquiring an additional 101,574 shares during the period. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams Companies

In related news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 13,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.87, for a total transaction of $973,310.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 17,000 shares of company stock worth $1,262,930. Insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Stock Up 0.5%

WMB opened at $75.45 on Wednesday. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $56.08 and a 1 year high of $80.07. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $73.45 and a 200 day moving average price of $73.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.48. The company has a market cap of $92.29 billion, a PE ratio of 30.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.59.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The pipeline company reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50. Williams Companies had a net margin of 25.17% and a return on equity of 18.49%. The firm 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 company posted $0.46 earnings per share. 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 year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on WMB. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price 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. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $99.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 18th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $78.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price objective on Williams Companies from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 12th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Williams Companies has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $85.60.

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.