Westfield Capital Management Co. LP Boosts Stock Position in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Westfield Capital Management Co. LP lifted its stake in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 13.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 201,065 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 23,747 shares during the quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $12,737,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Hartford Funds Management Co LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the 2nd quarter worth $29,000. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the second quarter valued at about $32,000. Salomon & Ludwin LLC acquired a new stake in Williams Companies during the third quarter worth about $35,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new position in Williams Companies during the second quarter worth about $35,000. Finally, Aspect Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Williams Companies by 81.3% in the 2nd quarter. Aspect Partners LLC now owns 582 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 261 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams Companies

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 27,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.92, for a total value of $1,968,840.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 293,159 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,377,154.28. The trade was a 8.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 31,000 shares of company stock valued at $2,225,420. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Williams Companies Trading Up 1.1%

NYSE WMB opened at $74.77 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.53. The firm has a market cap of $91.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.94, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 0.65. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $65.02 and a 200-day simple moving average of $61.66. Williams Companies, Inc. has a one year low of $51.58 and a one year high of $75.49.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 10th. The pipeline company reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analyst estimates of $3.10 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.47 EPS. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. This is a positive change from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is 93.46%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WMB has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $72.00 to $70.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Williams Companies from $78.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on Williams Companies from $75.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 11th. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $70.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $69.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Williams Companies presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $75.36.

Williams Companies 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.