Jennison Associates LLC Purchases 588,778 Shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Jennison Associates LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 27.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,754,878 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 588,778 shares during the quarter. Jennison Associates LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $200,500,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Towne Trust Company N.A increased its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 162 shares during the last quarter. Main Street Group LTD purchased a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the 1st quarter valued at about $26,000. Motiv8 Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Clearstead Trust LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 62.2% in the 4th quarter. Clearstead Trust LLC now owns 485 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 186 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kemnay Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new position in Williams Companies in the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Williams Companies

In other news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.16, for a total transaction of $148,320.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 283,159 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,999,071.44. This trade represents a 0.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Glen G. Jasek sold 2,500 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.15, for a total transaction of $195,375.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 54,101 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,227,993.15. This represents a 4.42% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders sold 68,500 shares of company stock valued at $5,182,655. 0.47% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on WMB shares. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. 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. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $82.00 target price on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Williams Companies from $98.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Williams Companies from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Williams Companies has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $83.56.

Williams Companies Stock Down 1.9%

Shares of WMB opened at $73.34 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $89.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.17, a P/E/G ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 0.57. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12-month low of $55.82 and a 12-month high of $80.07. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $74.37 and a 200-day moving average price of $71.32.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.73 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.10. Williams Companies had a net margin of 23.39% and a return on equity of 18.34%. The company had revenue of $3.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.28 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.60 EPS. The firm’s 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. Equities research analysts expect that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 12th were paid a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 12th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 92.11%.

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.