Barclays Raises Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) Price Target to $75.00

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) had its target price upped by investment analysts at Barclays from $73.00 to $75.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “equal weight” rating on the pipeline company’s stock. Barclays‘s price objective would indicate a potential downside of 0.16% from the company’s current price.

Several other brokerages have also commented on WMB. TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $81.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $82.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $89.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on Williams Companies from $87.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $83.50.

Williams Companies Stock Up 3.2%

Williams Companies stock opened at $75.12 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $91.76 billion, a PE ratio of 32.95, a P/E/G ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.57. 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 stock’s fifty day moving average is $74.18 and its two-hundred day moving average is $70.52. Williams Companies has a 1-year low of $55.82 and a 1-year high of $80.07.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.73 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.28 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.60 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter 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, sell-side analysts expect that Williams Companies will post 2.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams Companies

In other Williams Companies news, CFO John Dean Porter sold 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 196,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,815,254.79. This trade represents a 20.28% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.16, for a total transaction of $148,320.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 283,159 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,999,071.44. The trade was a 0.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 68,500 shares of company stock valued at $5,182,655. Company insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Williams Companies

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Williams Companies by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 133,963,343 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $8,052,537,000 after buying an additional 883,245 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 67,981,106 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $4,086,344,000 after acquiring an additional 1,296,991 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 15.9% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 48,586,299 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $3,077,942,000 after acquiring an additional 6,668,950 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 46,053,873 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $2,768,298,000 after acquiring an additional 2,100,164 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 11.0% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 33,572,067 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $2,018,017,000 after acquiring an additional 3,314,851 shares during the period. 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.