Equitable Holdings Inc. Invests $2.11 Million in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Equitable Holdings Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 28,400 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,111,000.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 67,981,106 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $4,086,344,000 after buying an additional 1,296,991 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in shares of Williams Companies by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 46,053,873 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $2,768,298,000 after buying an additional 2,100,164 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its position in shares of Williams Companies by 11.0% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 33,572,067 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $2,018,017,000 after buying an additional 3,314,851 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 21.3% in the 4th quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 21,325,482 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,281,875,000 after acquiring an additional 3,748,126 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG grew its position in Williams Companies by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 20,036,698 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,204,406,000 after acquiring an additional 239,732 shares in the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 13,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 14th. The stock was 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 directly owned 268,159 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,077,064.33. This trade represents a 4.62% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Over the last three months, insiders sold 17,000 shares of company stock worth $1,262,930. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WMB has been the topic of several analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $82.00 price objective on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Tuesday, July 14th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Williams Companies from $78.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Williams Companies from $89.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Truist Financial boosted their target price on Williams Companies from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. Finally, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce increased their price target on Williams Companies from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “outperformer” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Williams Companies presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $85.60.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:WMB opened at $73.75 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $90.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.38, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.58. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12 month low of $56.08 and a 12 month high of $80.07. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $73.46 and its 200 day moving average is $73.33. The company has a current ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 3rd. The pipeline company reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.50. Williams Companies had a net margin of 25.17% and a return on equity of 18.49%. The business had revenue of $3.05 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.83 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.46 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.350-2.350 EPS. Research analysts predict that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.45 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

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. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 11th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 83.67%.

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.