Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) Downgraded to Sell Rating by Wall Street Zen

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) was downgraded by equities researchers at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report issued on Saturday.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Wolfe Research upgraded Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $80.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $82.94.

Williams Companies Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of NYSE:WMB opened at $73.09 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $89.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.06, a PEG ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 0.57. Williams Companies has a 1-year low of $55.82 and a 1-year high of $80.07. 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 50 day moving average price of $74.10 and a 200 day moving average price of $70.23.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted 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. The firm had revenue of $3.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.28 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 23.39% and a return on equity of 18.34%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.60 earnings per share. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Williams Companies will post 2.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Williams Companies news, COO Larry C. Larsen sold 12,000 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction dated 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 owned 98,219 shares of the company’s stock, 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 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 value of $3,768,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 196,567 shares in the company, valued at $14,815,254.79. This represents a 20.28% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 68,500 shares of company stock worth $5,182,655. Insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Williams Companies

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH acquired a new position in Williams Companies in the fourth quarter valued at about $4,627,000. Gabelli Funds LLC boosted its holdings in Williams Companies by 7.4% during the fourth quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 261,000 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $15,689,000 after buying an additional 17,900 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in shares of Williams Companies by 21.0% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,105,570 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $125,839,000 after buying an additional 365,546 shares during the period. Stephens Inc. AR increased its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 8.9% in the 4th quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 164,900 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $9,912,000 after acquiring an additional 13,438 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SIR Capital Management L.P. increased its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 40.0% in the 4th quarter. SIR Capital Management L.P. now owns 525,232 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $31,572,000 after acquiring an additional 150,032 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

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.