Fund Advisors of America Inc FL Buys Shares of 20,488 Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Fund Advisors of America Inc FL bought a new position in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 20,488 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,232,000. Williams Companies accounts for approximately 1.1% of Fund Advisors of America Inc FL’s portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest holding.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Towne Trust Company N.A grew its position in shares of Williams Companies by 60.2% in the 4th quarter. Towne Trust Company N.A now owns 431 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 162 shares during the last quarter. Motiv8 Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Clearstead Trust LLC lifted its position in Williams Companies by 62.2% during the fourth quarter. Clearstead Trust LLC now owns 485 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 186 shares during the last quarter. Kemnay Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new stake in Williams Companies during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, First Command Advisory Services Inc. boosted its stake in Williams Companies by 216.8% in the fourth quarter. First Command Advisory Services Inc. now owns 491 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 336 shares in the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Larry C. Larsen sold 12,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.48, for a total transaction of $917,760.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 98,219 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,511,789.12. This trade represents a 10.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Glen G. Jasek sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.15, for a total value of $195,375.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 54,101 shares in the company, valued at $4,227,993.15. This represents a 4.42% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders sold 68,500 shares of company stock worth $5,177,835. Company insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on WMB shares. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Williams Companies from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on Williams Companies from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 10th. UBS Group lifted their price target on Williams Companies from $89.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce upped their price objective on Williams Companies from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “outperformer” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price objective 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 research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $82.40.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

NYSE:WMB opened at $73.16 on Friday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $89.37 billion, a PE ratio of 32.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.78 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. The company has a fifty day moving average of $73.37 and a two-hundred day moving average of $69.27.

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

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 29th. Investors of record on Friday, June 12th will be issued a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 currently 92.11%.

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.