Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) Rating Lowered to “Sell” at Wall Street Zen

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) was downgraded by stock analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a note issued to investors on Saturday.

Several other research analysts have also recently weighed in on WMB. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $69.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Williams Companies from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Zacks Research upgraded Williams Companies from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on Williams Companies from $78.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $77.00.

Williams Companies Stock Down 0.7%

WMB stock opened at $73.57 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $89.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.38, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83, a current ratio of 0.53 and a quick ratio of 0.48. Williams Companies has a 1-year low of $51.58 and a 1-year high of $76.87. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $70.92 and a 200-day moving average price of $64.10.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 10th. The pipeline company reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.57 by ($0.02). Williams Companies had a return on equity of 17.32% and a net margin of 21.90%.The business had revenue of $3.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.10 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.47 earnings per share. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Williams Companies will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 27,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.92, for a total value of $1,968,840.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 293,159 shares in the company, valued at $21,377,154.28. This represents a 8.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Payvand Fazel sold 2,898 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.15, for a total value of $211,988.70. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 31,766 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,323,682.90. The trade was a 8.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 51,369 shares of company stock valued at $3,769,012 in the last 90 days. 0.44% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Williams Companies

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Williams Companies by 3.1% during the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,540,556 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $287,644,000 after purchasing an additional 134,777 shares in the last quarter. World Investment Advisors lifted its holdings in Williams Companies by 185.6% in the 3rd quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 43,069 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $2,728,000 after purchasing an additional 27,987 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in Williams Companies by 9.5% in the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 184,123 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $11,664,000 after purchasing an additional 16,027 shares during the period. Compass Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Williams Companies by 75.9% during the 3rd quarter. Compass Wealth Management LLC now owns 125,290 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $7,937,000 after buying an additional 54,057 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp grew its holdings in Williams Companies by 3,344.8% during the 3rd quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp now owns 17,465 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,106,000 after buying an additional 16,958 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Company Profile

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.