Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB Shares Sold by Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund

Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund lowered its holdings in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 53.6% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 429,104 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 496,573 shares during the quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $31,230,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WMB. Towne Trust Company N.A raised its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 60.2% during the 4th quarter. Towne Trust Company N.A now owns 431 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 162 shares during the last quarter. Main Street Group LTD purchased a new position in Williams Companies during the first quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Motiv8 Investments LLC purchased a new position in Williams Companies during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Clearstead Trust LLC lifted its holdings in Williams Companies by 62.2% in the fourth quarter. Clearstead Trust LLC now owns 485 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 186 shares during the period. Finally, Kemnay Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new stake in Williams Companies in the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Williams Companies Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of WMB stock opened at $73.96 on Monday. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1-year low of $55.82 and a 1-year high of $80.07. The company has a market cap of $90.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.44, a PEG ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $74.19 and a 200-day simple moving average of $71.88.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $3.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.28 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 23.39% and a return on equity of 18.34%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.60 EPS. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 12th were given a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 12th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 92.11%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WMB has been the subject of several recent research reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $82.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce lifted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “outperformer” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Williams Companies from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 18th. Finally, Scotiabank increased their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $83.56.

Insider Activity at Williams Companies

In other news, COO Larry C. Larsen sold 12,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.48, for a total transaction of $917,760.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 98,219 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,511,789.12. The trade was a 10.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO John Dean Porter sold 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.37, for a total transaction of $3,768,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 196,567 shares in the company, valued at $14,815,254.79. This represents a 20.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 68,500 shares of company stock worth $5,182,655 in the last ninety days. 0.47% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.