Partners Group Holding AG Lowers Stock Position in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Partners Group Holding AG lessened its position in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 14.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 654,829 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 109,414 shares during the quarter. Williams Companies makes up 2.3% of Partners Group Holding AG’s holdings, making the stock its 14th biggest position. Partners Group Holding AG’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $41,483,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the 2nd quarter valued at about $765,164,000. BROOKFIELD Corp ON lifted its stake in Williams Companies by 190.3% in the 2nd quarter. BROOKFIELD Corp ON now owns 12,028,186 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $755,490,000 after buying an additional 7,884,730 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in Williams Companies by 27.3% in the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 14,417,821 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $905,583,000 after buying an additional 3,089,390 shares during the last quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership increased its stake in Williams Companies by 39.0% during the 2nd quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 6,954,733 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $436,827,000 after buying an additional 1,950,485 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 1.5% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 133,075,340 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $8,358,462,000 after acquiring an additional 1,912,156 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Williams Companies

In other news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 27,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.92, for a total value of $1,968,840.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 293,159 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,377,154.28. This represents a 8.43% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 31,000 shares of company stock valued at $2,225,420. Corporate insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently commented on WMB shares. Tudor Pickering upgraded Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 1st. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $75.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 11th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $69.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $69.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $75.36.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Shares of Williams Companies stock opened at $74.01 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $90.38 billion, a PE ratio of 34.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a quick ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52 week low of $51.58 and a 52 week high of $74.09. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $64.70 and its 200-day simple moving average is $61.57.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 10th. The pipeline company reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.57 by ($0.02). Williams Companies had a net margin of 21.90% and a return on equity of 17.32%. The company had revenue of $3.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.10 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.47 earnings per share. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be issued a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. This is an increase from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 93.46%.

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.