AlphaQuest LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

AlphaQuest LLC reduced its stake in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 89.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,573 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 13,438 shares during the quarter. AlphaQuest LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $94,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of WMB. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 40.9% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 13,680 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $740,000 after buying an additional 3,969 shares during the period. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 112.8% in the 4th quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 26,298 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,423,000 after buying an additional 13,941 shares during the period. Baird Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 419,163 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $22,685,000 after buying an additional 7,587 shares during the period. Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $542,000. Finally, Brevan Howard Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $792,000. 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 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.68, for a total value of $119,360.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 313,645 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,718,333.60. The trade was a 0.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Larry C. Larsen sold 4,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.47, for a total value of $263,115.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 77,612 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,537,973.64. This trade represents a 5.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 8,500 shares of company stock valued at $507,875. Insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently commented on WMB shares. Argus reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $66.00 price target on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Thursday, August 14th. Cibc World Mkts raised Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 15th. TD Cowen initiated coverage on Williams Companies in a report on Monday, July 7th. They set a “buy” rating and a $67.00 price objective for the company. Wolfe Research raised Williams Companies from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Friday, June 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Williams Companies from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Williams Companies currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $62.86.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Shares of WMB stock opened at $57.32 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $58.45 and a 200 day moving average price of $58.39. The stock has a market cap of $69.90 billion, a PE ratio of 28.81, a P/E/G ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 0.65. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $43.98 and a 1 year high of $63.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.54.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.46 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by ($0.03). Williams Companies had a return on equity of 16.23% and a net margin of 21.63%.The company had revenue of $2.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.90 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.43 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 19.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Williams Companies has set its FY 2025 guidance at 2.010-2.190 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 12th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 12th. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is 100.50%.

Williams Companies Company Profile

The Williams Companies, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an energy infrastructure company primarily in the United States. It operates through Transmission & Gulf of Mexico, Northeast G&P, West, and Gas & NGL Marketing Services segments. The Transmission & Gulf of Mexico segment comprises natural gas pipelines; Transco, Northwest pipeline, MountainWest, and related natural gas storage facilities; and natural gas gathering and processing, and crude oil production handling and transportation assets in the Gulf Coast region.