ProShare Advisors LLC Purchases 28,740 Shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

ProShare Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 8.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 367,624 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 28,740 shares during the quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $22,098,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Towne Trust Company N.A raised its holdings in Williams Companies by 60.2% in the 4th quarter. Towne Trust Company N.A now owns 431 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 162 shares during the period. WHI TRUST Co LLC purchased a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Entrust Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Financial Life Planners purchased a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the third quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, Turning Point Benefit Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the third quarter worth about $46,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WMB has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group boosted their price target on Williams Companies from $89.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective 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. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Williams Companies presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $81.00.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

NYSE:WMB opened at $77.94 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $95.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.18, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 0.61. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $55.82 and a 1 year high of $80.07. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $73.49 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $67.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.76.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.73 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.10. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 18.34% and a net margin of 23.39%.The firm had revenue of $3.03 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.28 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.60 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 12th will be given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 12th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.7%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 92.11%.

Trending Headlines about Williams Companies

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley raised its price target on Williams Companies (WMB) from $90 to $98 and reiterated an overweight view, signaling stronger confidence in the stock’s upside potential. Morgan Stanley raises Williams Companies price target
• Positive Sentiment: The company expanded its credit facilities to boost liquidity, which can reassure investors about financial flexibility and funding capacity. Williams Co Expands Credit Facilities to Boost Liquidity
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple articles highlighted Williams as a beneficiary of surging natural gas-fired बिजली demand, especially from AI-driven power needs, reinforcing the long-term growth story for its pipeline and gas infrastructure assets. Motley Fool article on WMB and natural gas demand
• Neutral Sentiment: Williams’ Q1 earnings call was described as signaling a “growth wave,” adding to the market’s generally constructive tone, though the article did not indicate a fresh catalyst on its own. Williams Companies’ Earnings Call Signals Growth Wave
• Neutral Sentiment: An insider sale by an SVP was disclosed, but the transaction was relatively small versus the executive’s remaining holdings and is not necessarily a major fundamental concern. Williams Companies SVP sells stock

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO John Dean Porter sold 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.37, for a total value of $3,768,500.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 196,567 shares in the company, valued at $14,815,254.79. The trade was a 20.28% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Todd J. Rinke sold 7,364 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.39, for a total transaction of $547,807.96. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 26,055 shares in the company, valued at $1,938,231.45. This represents a 22.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 117,869 shares of company stock worth $8,814,067. 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.