Cohen Investment Advisors LLC Lowers Stake in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Cohen Investment Advisors LLC lowered its stake in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 7.2% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 7,708 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 600 shares during the period. Cohen Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $484,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its position in Williams Companies by 40.9% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 13,680 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $740,000 after buying an additional 3,969 shares during the period. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Williams Companies in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $357,000. OLD National Bancorp IN boosted its position in Williams Companies by 17.9% in the 1st quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN now owns 6,343 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $379,000 after buying an additional 965 shares during the period. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. boosted its position in Williams Companies by 14.5% in the 1st quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. now owns 12,068 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $721,000 after buying an additional 1,526 shares during the period. Finally, Daymark Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in Williams Companies in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $332,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Trading Down 0.8%

NYSE WMB opened at $63.49 on Thursday. Williams Companies, Inc. has a one year low of $48.71 and a one year 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. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $59.44 and its two-hundred day moving average is $59.05. The firm has a market cap of $77.42 billion, a PE ratio of 31.90, a P/E/G ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.65.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced 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 business 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%. Williams Companies’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.43 EPS. Williams Companies has set its FY 2025 guidance at 2.010-2.190 EPS. Analysts expect that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 12th were issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 12th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.2%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 100.50%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Williams Companies news, COO Larry C. Larsen sold 4,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.47, for a total transaction of $263,115.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 77,612 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,537,973.64. This represents a 5.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.62, for a total transaction of $115,240.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 311,645 shares in the company, valued at $17,956,984.90. The trade was a 0.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 8,500 shares of company stock worth $497,715. Corporate insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WMB has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Scotiabank raised their price objective 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. CIBC upgraded shares of Williams Companies from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and set a $64.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 15th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $74.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 30th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $59.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 30th. Finally, TD Cowen started coverage on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Monday, July 7th. They set a “buy” rating and a $67.00 price target on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $65.53.

About Williams Companies

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.