LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI Invests $595,000 in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI purchased a new stake in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 7,999 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $595,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings 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 worth $8,052,537,000 after purchasing an additional 883,245 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 67,981,106 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $4,086,344,000 after purchasing an additional 1,296,991 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE increased its position in shares of Williams Companies by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 46,053,873 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $2,768,298,000 after buying an additional 2,100,164 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley increased its position in shares of Williams Companies by 11.0% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 33,572,067 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $2,018,017,000 after buying an additional 3,314,851 shares during the period. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its stake in 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 buying an additional 3,748,126 shares in the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WMB has been the subject of several research analyst reports. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Wall Street Zen lowered Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday. Citigroup raised their target price on Williams Companies from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Wolfe Research upgraded Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Williams Companies presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $83.88.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Larry C. Larsen sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 14th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $7,511,789.12. This represents a 10.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Glen G. Jasek sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.15, for a total transaction of $195,375.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 54,101 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,227,993.15. This trade represents 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 sold 18,500 shares of company stock valued at $1,402,755. Insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Trading Up 1.8%

Williams Companies stock opened at $71.70 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $73.13 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $72.69. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12 month low of $55.82 and a 12 month high of $80.07. The company has a market capitalization of $87.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 0.59.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released its earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The pipeline company reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50. The firm had revenue of $3.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.83 billion. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 18.49% and a net margin of 25.17%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.46 earnings per share. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.350-2.350 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 11th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 83.67%.

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.