HighTower Advisors LLC Reduces Stock Position in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

HighTower Advisors LLC trimmed 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 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,639,071 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 31,710 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC owned about 0.13% of Williams Companies worth $121,849,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its position in Williams Companies by 40.9% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 13,680 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $740,000 after purchasing an additional 3,969 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Williams Companies by 5.5% in the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,635 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $291,000 after buying an additional 242 shares in the last quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina raised its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 568,928 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $35,734,000 after buying an additional 11,926 shares during the last quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC raised its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 3.0% during the 2nd quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 10,248 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $644,000 after buying an additional 296 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ieq Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 160.1% in the 2nd quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 165,035 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $10,366,000 after buying an additional 101,574 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $83.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, August 10th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $99.00 to $103.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 18th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $89.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Tuesday, July 14th. Finally, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce lifted their price objective on Williams Companies from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “outperformer” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. 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. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $85.60.

Williams Companies Trading Up 0.0%

NYSE WMB opened at $74.17 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $90.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.55, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.59. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12 month low of $56.08 and a 12 month high of $80.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83, a current ratio of 0.48 and a quick ratio of 0.43. The company has a 50-day moving average of $73.30 and a 200-day moving average of $73.50.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released its earnings results 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.83 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.46 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.350-2.350 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis 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%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams Companies

In related news, SVP Terrance Wilson sold 13,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.87, for a total value of $973,310.00. Following the transaction, 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 filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 19,000 shares of company stock valued at $1,414,050. Company insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

About Williams Companies

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.