Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB Shares Sold by Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada lessened its holdings in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 14.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 13,431,853 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 2,209,977 shares during the quarter. Royal Bank of Canada owned about 1.10% of Williams Companies worth $807,389,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Towne Trust Company N.A lifted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 60.2% during the fourth quarter. Towne Trust Company N.A now owns 431 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 162 shares in the last quarter. Motiv8 Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Clearstead Trust LLC lifted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 62.2% during the fourth quarter. Clearstead Trust LLC now owns 485 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 186 shares in the last quarter. First Command Advisory Services Inc. lifted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 216.8% during the fourth quarter. First Command Advisory Services Inc. now owns 491 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 336 shares in the last quarter. Finally, WHI TRUST Co LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Williams Companies from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, April 5th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 10th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Williams Companies from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $82.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, April 20th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $82.40.

Insider Activity at Williams Companies

In other Williams Companies news, CFO John Dean Porter sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.37, for a total value of $3,768,500.00. Following 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.35, for a total transaction of $152,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 287,159 shares in the company, valued at $21,924,589.65. This represents a 0.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 68,500 shares of company stock valued at $5,177,835. Company insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of NYSE:WMB opened at $71.36 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $73.41 and its 200 day moving average price is $69.08. The stock has a market cap of $87.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 0.58. Williams Companies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $55.82 and a fifty-two week high of $80.07. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued its earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.73 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.60 earnings per share. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 12th will be paid a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 12th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 92.11%.

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.