Brokerages Set Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) Target Price at $63.07

Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) has received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eighteen research firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, twelve have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $65.5333.

WMB has been the topic of a number of research reports. Argus reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $66.00 price objective on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Thursday, August 14th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $59.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $59.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th.

Insider Activity at Williams Companies

In other news, COO Larry C. Larsen sold 4,500 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.47, for a total transaction of $263,115.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 77,612 shares in the company, valued at $4,537,973.64. This trade represents a 5.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.62, for a total transaction of $115,240.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 311,645 shares in the company, valued at $17,956,984.90. This represents a 0.64% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 8,500 shares of company stock worth $497,715. Company insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Williams Companies

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Chapin Davis Inc. lifted its position in Williams Companies by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. Chapin Davis Inc. now owns 10,955 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $688,000 after acquiring an additional 170 shares in the last quarter. Wallace Advisory Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 2.6% during the 2nd quarter. Wallace Advisory Group LLC now owns 7,031 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $420,000 after buying an additional 176 shares in the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. lifted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 2.2% during the 2nd quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 8,177 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $514,000 after buying an additional 179 shares in the last quarter. TrueWealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. TrueWealth Advisors LLC now owns 24,823 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,559,000 after buying an additional 182 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Castleview Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 4.2% during the 1st quarter. Castleview Partners LLC now owns 4,492 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $268,000 after buying an additional 183 shares in the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE WMB opened at $64.54 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $59.14 and its 200-day moving average price is $58.97. The company has a quick ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73. The company has a market cap of $78.70 billion, a PE ratio of 32.43, a PEG ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 0.65. Williams Companies has a 52-week low of $48.41 and a 52-week high of $65.55.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $2.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.90 billion. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 16.23% and a net margin of 21.63%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 19.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.43 EPS. Williams Companies has set its FY 2025 guidance at 2.010-2.190 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Williams Companies will post 2.08 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 12th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 12th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.1%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 100.50%.

About Williams Companies

The Williams Companies, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an energy infrastructure company primarily in the United States. It operates through Transmission & Gulf of Mexico, Northeast G&P, West, and Gas & NGL Marketing Services segments. The Transmission & Gulf of Mexico segment comprises natural gas pipelines; Transco, Northwest pipeline, MountainWest, and related natural gas storage facilities; and natural gas gathering and processing, and crude oil production handling and transportation assets in the Gulf Coast region.