Norges Bank Acquires New Holdings in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 12,182,197 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $765,164,000. Norges Bank owned 1.00% of Williams Companies at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in WMB. Diversified Trust Co grew its position in Williams Companies by 28.5% in the 2nd quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 46,549 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $2,924,000 after acquiring an additional 10,317 shares in the last quarter. Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC increased its stake in Williams Companies by 362.5% during the 1st quarter. Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC now owns 1,465,991 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $87,608,000 after buying an additional 1,149,045 shares during the period. ORG Partners LLC boosted its position in Williams Companies by 153.4% in the 2nd quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 831 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $49,000 after buying an additional 503 shares during the period. Adams Natural Resources Fund Inc. grew its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 1,238.3% in the second quarter. Adams Natural Resources Fund Inc. now owns 365,350 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $22,948,000 after acquiring an additional 338,050 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jump Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the first quarter worth $2,728,000. 86.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.53, for a total transaction of $242,120.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 302,645 shares in the company, valued at $18,319,101.85. This represents a 1.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:WMB opened at $60.96 on Friday. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12 month low of $51.58 and a 12 month high of $65.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $74.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.63, a P/E/G ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73, a current ratio of 0.54 and a quick ratio of 0.48. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $60.86 and its 200 day moving average price is $59.52.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its earnings results on Monday, November 3rd. The pipeline company reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $2.92 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.87 billion. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 16.23% and a net margin of 21.63%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.43 EPS. Williams Companies has set its FY 2025 guidance at 2.010-2.190 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 29th. Investors of record on Friday, December 12th will be given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 12th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.3%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is 103.09%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on WMB. Wall Street Zen downgraded Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, October 4th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Monday. Mizuho upgraded shares of Williams Companies to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 27th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $70.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 2nd. Finally, Cibc World Mkts upgraded shares of Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 15th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Williams Companies presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $68.21.

Williams Companies Company Profile

The Williams Companies, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an energy infrastructure company primarily in the United States. It operates through Transmission & Gulf of Mexico, Northeast G&P, West, and Gas & NGL Marketing Services segments. The Transmission & Gulf of Mexico segment comprises natural gas pipelines; Transco, Northwest pipeline, MountainWest, and related natural gas storage facilities; and natural gas gathering and processing, and crude oil production handling and transportation assets in the Gulf Coast region.