Clarius Group LLC Lowers Holdings in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Clarius Group LLC reduced its stake in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 7.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 7,611 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 648 shares during the period. Clarius Group LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $478,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 577,123 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $34,489,000 after purchasing an additional 6,816 shares during the last quarter. Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC raised its position in shares of Williams Companies by 362.5% in the 1st quarter. Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC now owns 1,465,991 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $87,608,000 after buying an additional 1,149,045 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in Williams Companies by 27.5% in the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 402,967 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $24,081,000 after acquiring an additional 87,031 shares during the last quarter. Kessler Investment Group LLC purchased a new stake in Williams Companies during the first quarter valued at about $327,000. Finally, Good Steward Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Williams Companies during the first quarter worth about $977,000. 86.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Argus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $66.00 price objective on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Thursday, August 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $59.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $59.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 30th. Scotiabank lifted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $59.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Williams Companies from $70.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $65.53.

Williams Companies Price Performance

WMB opened at $64.54 on Monday. Williams Companies, Inc. has a twelve month low of $48.41 and a twelve month high of $65.55. The firm has a market cap of $78.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.43, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a current ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $59.14 and a 200 day simple moving average of $58.96.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.46 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $2.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.90 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 21.63% and a return on equity of 16.23%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 19.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.43 earnings per share. Williams Companies has set its FY 2025 guidance at 2.010-2.190 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 12th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 12th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.1%. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is currently 100.50%.

Insider Activity at Williams Companies

In other Williams Companies news, COO Larry C. Larsen sold 4,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.47, for a total value of $263,115.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 77,612 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,537,973.64. This represents a 5.48% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.62, for a total transaction of $115,240.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 311,645 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,956,984.90. The trade was a 0.64% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 8,500 shares of company stock worth $497,715 over the last 90 days. 0.44% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Williams Companies 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.