Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB Shares Purchased by M.D. Sass LLC

M.D. Sass LLC raised its stake in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 4.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,024,833 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 44,441 shares during the period. Williams Companies accounts for 5.1% of M.D. Sass LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest holding. M.D. Sass LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $64,370,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Samjo Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the 2nd quarter worth $821,000. TradeLink Capital LLC bought a new stake in Williams Companies during the second quarter valued at about $207,000. Prossimo Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Williams Companies by 1.0% during the second quarter. Prossimo Advisors LLC now owns 24,466 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,537,000 after acquiring an additional 254 shares during the period. River Road Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Williams Companies by 0.6% in the second quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC now owns 405,002 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $24,280,000 after purchasing an additional 2,458 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kore Advisors LP bought a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the second quarter worth about $200,000. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have issued reports on WMB shares. Barclays raised their target price on Williams Companies from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $74.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 30th. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $59.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 2nd. Finally, CIBC upgraded shares of Williams Companies from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and set a $64.00 target price for the company 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 given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $68.21.

Insider Activity at Williams Companies

In other news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 12th. The stock was 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. The trade was a 1.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Trading Up 1.2%

Shares of WMB stock opened at $60.96 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $60.86 and a 200-day moving average of $59.54. The stock has a market cap of $74.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.63, a P/E/G ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 0.63. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52-week low of $51.58 and a 52-week high of $65.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.54.

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

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

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

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.