Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB Shares Acquired by Castleark Management LLC

by · The Markets Daily

Castleark Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMBFree Report) by 17.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 125,730 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after acquiring an additional 19,090 shares during the quarter. Castleark Management LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $7,558,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Williams Companies by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 133,963,343 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $8,052,537,000 after buying an additional 883,245 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 15.9% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 48,586,299 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $3,077,942,000 after purchasing an additional 6,668,950 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 21.3% in the fourth quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 21,325,482 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,281,875,000 after purchasing an additional 3,748,126 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG lifted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 20,036,698 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,204,406,000 after purchasing an additional 239,732 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 1.1% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 14,575,898 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $923,383,000 after purchasing an additional 158,077 shares in the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Shares of WMB opened at $71.92 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.83. The company has a market capitalization of $87.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.54, a PEG ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 0.58. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $73.44 and its 200 day simple moving average is $68.85. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $55.82 and a 1 year high of $80.07.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMBGet Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $3.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.28 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 23.39% and a return on equity of 18.34%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.60 earnings per share. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.44 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 29th. Investors of record on Friday, June 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 12th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 92.11%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on WMB shares. Truist Financial started coverage on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Tuesday, March 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $84.00 price target on the stock. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Williams Companies from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, April 5th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Williams Companies from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $82.00 price target on the stock in a report on Monday, April 20th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $82.40.

Check Out Our Latest Report on WMB

Insider Activity at Williams Companies

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.35, for a total transaction of $152,700.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 287,159 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,924,589.65. This trade represents a 0.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Larry C. Larsen sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.48, for a total transaction of $917,760.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 98,219 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,511,789.12. This represents a 10.89% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 68,500 shares of company stock worth $5,177,835. Company insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Company Profile

(Free Report)

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.

Further Reading

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