Conning Inc. Trims Stock Holdings in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Conning Inc. cut its stake in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 1.9% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 14,650 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 288 shares during the quarter. Conning Inc.’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $920,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in WMB. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the first quarter worth about $335,419,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 45.0% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 11,339,078 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $677,623,000 after acquiring an additional 3,519,370 shares during the period. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 34.0% in the first quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 11,287,921 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $674,566,000 after acquiring an additional 2,861,988 shares during the period. Voya Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 275.7% in the first quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 2,609,318 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $155,933,000 after acquiring an additional 1,914,730 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 6.0% in the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 29,624,104 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,770,336,000 after acquiring an additional 1,680,477 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Williams Companies

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the business’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 completion of 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, COO Larry C. Larsen sold 4,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.47, for a total value of $263,115.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 77,612 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,537,973.64. This trade represents a 5.48% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 8,500 shares of company stock valued at $497,715 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on WMB shares. 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. Wall Street Zen downgraded Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 4th. BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on Williams Companies in a research report on Friday, September 19th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $66.00 target price on the stock. Barclays boosted their target price on Williams Companies from $59.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Saturday, September 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $65.94.

Williams Companies Trading Down 0.8%

Shares of NYSE WMB opened at $62.60 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $59.55 and its two-hundred day moving average is $59.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73, a current ratio of 0.54 and a quick ratio of 0.48. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1-year low of $49.30 and a 1-year high of $65.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $76.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.46, a PEG ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.65.

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

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

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

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.