Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) Price Target Raised to $64.00 at Wells Fargo & Company

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) had its target price increased by equities research analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $63.00 to $64.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “overweight” rating on the pipeline company’s stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price objective suggests a potential upside of 12.09% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other analysts have also commented on WMB. Truist Financial boosted their price target on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. CIBC raised their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Williams Companies from $58.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 25th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $60.50.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE WMB opened at $57.10 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $69.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.20, a PEG ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 0.66. Williams Companies has a one year low of $39.34 and a one year high of $61.67. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $57.89 and a 200 day simple moving average of $56.63. The company has a current ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.05. Williams Companies had a net margin of 21.17% and a return on equity of 15.85%. The company had revenue of $3.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.90 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.59 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Williams Companies will post 2.08 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams Companies

In other news, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 8,896 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.50, for a total value of $511,520.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 22,339 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,284,492.50. This represents a 28.48 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Chad A. Teply sold 26,000 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.46, for a total transaction of $1,467,960.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 133,048 shares in the company, valued at $7,511,890.08. The trade was a 16.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 139,583 shares of company stock worth $7,563,278. Insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Williams Companies

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Williams Companies during the 4th quarter worth $575,103,000. Blackstone Inc. raised its position in shares of Williams Companies by 36.5% during the fourth quarter. Blackstone Inc. now owns 18,954,088 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,025,795,000 after purchasing an additional 5,068,738 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 2,303.2% during the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 3,517,336 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $190,358,000 after purchasing an additional 3,370,974 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 6,407.2% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,238,490 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $133,772,000 after purchasing an additional 2,204,090 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Castle Hook Partners LP increased its stake in Williams Companies by 69.1% during the 4th quarter. Castle Hook Partners LP now owns 5,055,184 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $273,587,000 after purchasing an additional 2,065,906 shares in the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Williams Companies

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.