Daiichi Life Insurance Co. Ltd. Invests $3.94 Million in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Daiichi Life Insurance Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 53,024 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,942,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of WMB. Cynosure Group LLC acquired a new position in Williams Companies during the second quarter worth about $647,000. Gabelli Funds LLC lifted its holdings in Williams Companies by 7.4% in the 4th quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 261,000 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $15,689,000 after acquiring an additional 17,900 shares during the last quarter. SIR Capital Management L.P. lifted its holdings in Williams Companies by 40.0% in the 4th quarter. SIR Capital Management L.P. now owns 525,232 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $31,572,000 after acquiring an additional 150,032 shares during the last quarter. Stephens Inc. AR boosted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 8.9% during the 4th quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 164,900 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $9,912,000 after purchasing an additional 13,438 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 56.3% in the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 57,550 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $3,459,000 after purchasing an additional 20,740 shares during the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 13,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.87, for a total value of $973,310.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 268,159 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,077,064.33. This represents a 4.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 17,000 shares of company stock worth $1,262,930. Insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Trading Up 0.3%

NYSE WMB opened at $70.71 on Monday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $73.38 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $73.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.48. Williams Companies, Inc. has a twelve month low of $56.08 and a twelve month high of $80.07. The stock has a market cap of $86.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.17, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.59.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The pipeline company reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50. The business 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 revenue for the quarter was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.46 earnings per share. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.350-2.350 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.45 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on WMB. Truist Financial increased their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $99.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 18th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce increased their price objective on Williams Companies from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “outperformer” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on Williams Companies from $81.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, August 8th. Three equities 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 company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $85.60.

More Williams Companies News

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 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.