Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) Receives Average Rating of “Buy” from Analysts

Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Buy” from the twenty research firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, fourteen have given a buy recommendation and four have issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $82.40.

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Truist Financial assumed coverage on Williams Companies in a research note on Tuesday, March 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $84.00 price objective on the stock. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Williams Companies from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Wednesday. TD Cowen increased their price objective on Williams Companies from $81.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $82.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th.

Insider Activity

In other Williams Companies news, COO Larry C. Larsen sold 12,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.48, for a total transaction of $917,760.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 98,219 shares in the company, valued at $7,511,789.12. The trade was a 10.89% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 1st. The stock was 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 position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 68,500 shares of company stock worth $5,177,835. Insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WMB. Towne Trust Company N.A grew its holdings in Williams Companies by 60.2% during the 4th quarter. Towne Trust Company N.A now owns 431 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 162 shares in the last quarter. Main Street Group LTD acquired a new position in Williams Companies during the 1st quarter worth approximately $26,000. Motiv8 Investments LLC acquired a new position in Williams Companies during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Clearstead Trust LLC grew its holdings in Williams Companies by 62.2% during the 4th quarter. Clearstead Trust LLC now owns 485 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 186 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kemnay Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new position in Williams Companies during the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Stock Up 0.1%

Williams Companies stock opened at $78.00 on Monday. Williams Companies has a twelve month low of $55.82 and a twelve month high of $80.07. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $73.82 and its 200-day simple moving average is $69.84. 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 market capitalization of $95.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.21, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.58.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) 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 analysts’ expectations of $3.28 billion. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 18.34% and a net margin of 23.39%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.60 earnings per share. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Williams Companies will post 2.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

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