Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB Position Boosted by Nicholas Investment Partners LP

Nicholas Investment Partners LP grew its holdings in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 61.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 123,075 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 46,875 shares during the period. Nicholas Investment Partners LP’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $7,398,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Towne Trust Company N.A lifted its stake in Williams Companies by 60.2% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Clearstead Trust LLC increased its position in shares of Williams Companies by 62.2% in the fourth quarter. Clearstead Trust LLC now owns 485 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 186 shares in the last quarter. WHI TRUST Co LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. First Command Advisory Services Inc. lifted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 216.8% in the 4th quarter. First Command Advisory Services Inc. now owns 491 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 336 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams Companies

In related news, SVP Glen G. Jasek sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.15, for a total transaction of $195,375.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 54,101 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,227,993.15. This trade represents a 4.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Larry C. Larsen sold 12,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.48, for a total transaction of $917,760.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 98,219 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,511,789.12. The trade was a 10.89% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 68,500 shares of company stock worth $5,177,835 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $80.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Truist Financial assumed coverage on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Tuesday, March 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $84.00 price target for the company. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $78.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $89.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Williams Companies presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $82.40.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Shares of WMB opened at $71.92 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $87.86 billion, a PE ratio of 31.54, a PEG ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 0.58. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $73.44 and its 200 day moving average price is $68.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.83. Williams Companies, Inc. has a twelve month low of $55.82 and a twelve month high of $80.07.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 analyst estimates of $3.28 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 23.39% and a return on equity of 18.34%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.60 earnings per share. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 29th. Investors of record on Friday, June 12th will be given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 12th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 92.11%.

Williams Companies Company 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.