Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Buy” from Brokerages

Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) has been given an average rating of “Buy” by the twenty analysts that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $82.40.

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $82.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $78.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $80.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 13th. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $81.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Friday, March 27th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Payvand Fazel sold 2,898 shares of the company’s 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 sale, the senior vice president owned 31,766 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,323,682.90. This represents a 8.36% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO John Dean Porter sold 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.37, for a total transaction of $3,768,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 196,567 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,815,254.79. This trade represents a 20.28% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 78,762 shares of company stock worth $5,937,632. Company insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Williams Companies

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of WMB. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Williams Companies by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,540,556 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $287,644,000 after buying an additional 134,777 shares during the last quarter. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH bought a new position in Williams Companies in the 4th quarter worth about $4,627,000. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp grew its position in Williams Companies by 3,344.8% in the 3rd quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp now owns 17,465 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,106,000 after purchasing an additional 16,958 shares during the last quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC grew its position in Williams Companies by 7.4% in the 4th quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 261,000 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $15,689,000 after purchasing an additional 17,900 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in Williams Companies by 21.0% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,105,570 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $125,839,000 after purchasing an additional 365,546 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

More Williams Companies News

Here are the key news stories impacting Williams Companies this week:

• Positive Sentiment: US Capital Advisors raised Williams Companies’ FY2026 EPS estimate to $2.31 and Q2 2026 EPS to $0.49, signaling slightly better near-term earnings expectations.
• Neutral Sentiment: Broader midstream commentary points to stronger gas demand and LNG-related growth, which supports the long-term outlook for Williams Companies. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: US Capital Advisors cut several forward EPS estimates for Williams Companies, including FY2027 and FY2028, which may pressure valuation expectations.
• Negative Sentiment: Coverage noting that WMB is down since its last earnings report suggests investors remain focused on softer revenue trends and reduced confidence in the post-earnings outlook. Article Title

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Williams Companies stock opened at $71.83 on Thursday. Williams Companies has a 12-month low of $55.82 and a 12-month high of $80.07. The company has a market capitalization of $87.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $73.63 and its 200 day moving average price is $68.31.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.10. Williams Companies had a net margin of 23.39% and a return on equity of 18.34%. The firm had revenue of $3.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.28 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.60 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Williams Companies will post 2.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 12th will be paid a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 12th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is 92.11%.

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.