Ninety One UK Ltd Raises Stake in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Ninety One UK Ltd grew its holdings in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 56.2% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 509,266 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after acquiring an additional 183,164 shares during the quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $32,262,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Flaharty Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Williams Companies in the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. Hartford Funds Management Co LLC purchased a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Private Wealth Management Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 104.8% in the second quarter. Private Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 469 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 240 shares during the period. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the second quarter worth approximately $32,000. Finally, Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the second quarter worth approximately $35,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on WMB shares. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $59.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $74.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 30th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $72.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Monday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $68.21.

Insider Activity at Williams Companies

In related news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.90, for a total value of $123,800.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 297,545 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,418,035.50. This represents a 0.67% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.44% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Williams Companies Price Performance

WMB stock opened at $60.16 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $59.57 and a 200-day moving average of $59.64. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12-month low of $51.58 and a 12-month high of $65.55. The company has a current ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73. The company has a market cap of $73.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.01, a PEG ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 0.62.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 3rd. The pipeline company reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.51 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $2.92 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.87 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 20.61% and a return on equity of 16.74%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.43 earnings per share. Williams Companies has set its FY 2025 guidance at 2.010-2.190 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 12th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 12th. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is 103.09%.

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.