Korea Investment CORP Makes New Investment in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Korea Investment CORP bought a new stake in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm bought 860,293 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $63,954,000.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WMB. Main Street Group LTD acquired a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the first quarter worth about $26,000. Motiv8 Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Allied Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Williams Companies during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Bayforest Capital Ltd purchased a new position in Williams Companies in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Finally, Clearstead Trust LLC boosted its holdings in Williams Companies by 62.2% in the 4th quarter. Clearstead Trust LLC now owns 485 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 186 shares during the period. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Williams Companies Stock Down 1.4%

NYSE:WMB opened at $70.71 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.48. The company has a market capitalization of $86.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 0.58. Williams Companies, Inc. has a one year low of $56.08 and a one year high of $80.07. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $73.38 and a 200 day simple moving average of $73.13.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released its earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The pipeline company reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50. The company had revenue of $3.05 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.83 billion. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 18.49% and a net margin of 25.17%.Williams Companies’s quarterly revenue was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.46 EPS. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.350-2.350 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 11th will be issued a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 11th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.0%. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is 83.67%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on WMB. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $73.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $89.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. TD Cowen raised their target price on Williams Companies from $81.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $82.00 price target on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Tuesday, July 14th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $85.60.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams Companies

In related news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 13,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.87, for a total transaction of $973,310.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 268,159 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,077,064.33. This represents a 4.62% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 17,000 shares of company stock worth $1,262,930. 0.47% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Key Headlines Impacting Williams Companies

Here are the key news stories impacting Williams Companies this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley raised its price target for Williams Companies to $103, signaling substantial potential upside from recent trading levels and providing a constructive counterpoint to the earnings estimate cuts. Morgan Stanley Increases Williams Companies Price Target to $103
• Neutral Sentiment: The company’s latest reported quarter was solid: Williams earned $0.50 per share, matching consensus, while revenue of $3.05 billion exceeded expectations and increased 9.8% year over year. Its fee-based pipeline operations provide relatively stable cash flows.
• Negative Sentiment: US Capital Advisors lowered its EPS forecasts across several periods, including fourth-quarter 2026 EPS to $0.57 from $0.60, first-quarter 2027 EPS to $0.55 from $0.59, second-quarter 2027 EPS to $0.40 from $0.48, and third-quarter 2027 EPS to $0.50 from $0.55.
• Negative Sentiment: The firm also reduced its full-year 2027 EPS estimate to $2.07 from $2.28 and its 2028 forecast to $2.67 from $2.86. These revisions suggest analysts see weaker near- to medium-term earnings growth than previously expected and are likely the main reason the stock has decreased.

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.