Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) Raised to Hold at Wall Street Zen

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

Other analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $81.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Williams Companies from $78.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on Williams Companies from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Williams Companies currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $83.56.

Williams Companies Trading Down 1.9%

Shares of NYSE:WMB opened at $73.34 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $74.37 and its 200 day moving average is $71.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.76. Williams Companies has a 1 year low of $55.82 and a 1 year high of $80.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $89.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.17, a P/E/G ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 0.57.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.73 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.10. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 18.34% and a net margin of 23.39%.The business had revenue of $3.03 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.28 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.60 earnings per share. The company’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 predict that Williams Companies will post 2.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Glen G. Jasek sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.15, for a total value of $195,375.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 54,101 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,227,993.15. The trade was a 4.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Larry C. Larsen sold 12,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.48, for a total value of $917,760.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 98,219 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,511,789.12. This represents a 10.89% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 68,500 shares of company stock valued at $5,182,655 over the last quarter. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Williams Companies

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Apella Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. Apella Capital LLC now owns 5,988 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $450,000 after acquiring an additional 134 shares during the last quarter. Mirador Capital Partners LP boosted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. Mirador Capital Partners LP now owns 16,153 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,201,000 after acquiring an additional 140 shares during the last quarter. Aletheian Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 3.8% in the second quarter. Aletheian Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,830 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $285,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares during the period. Mill Creek Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Mill Creek Capital Advisors LLC now owns 6,000 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $361,000 after purchasing an additional 141 shares during the period. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. increased its position in Williams Companies by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 15,309 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $920,000 after purchasing an additional 148 shares during the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.