Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) Given Average Rating of “Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Buy” by the twenty ratings firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, fifteen have assigned a buy recommendation and three have issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $85.3333.

A number of brokerages have issued reports on WMB. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Williams Companies from $78.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Williams Companies from $98.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 8th.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Shares of WMB opened at $73.55 on Tuesday. Williams Companies has a 1 year low of $55.82 and a 1 year high of $80.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $89.96 billion, a PE ratio of 29.30, a PEG ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.48. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $73.31 and a 200-day simple moving average of $73.01.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued its earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The pipeline company reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.50. Williams Companies had a net margin of 25.17% and a return on equity of 18.49%. The firm had revenue of $3.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.83 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.46 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.350-2.350 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Williams Companies will post 2.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 28th. Investors of record on Friday, September 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 11th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 83.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 13,000 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.87, for a total transaction of $973,310.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 268,159 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,077,064.33. The trade was a 4.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders sold a total of 17,000 shares of company stock worth $1,262,930 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Williams Companies

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 40.9% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 13,680 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $740,000 after buying an additional 3,969 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 5.5% in the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,635 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $291,000 after purchasing an additional 242 shares during the last quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina raised its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 2.1% during the second quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 568,928 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $35,734,000 after purchasing an additional 11,926 shares during the last quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 3.0% during the second quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 10,248 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $644,000 after purchasing an additional 296 shares during the period. Finally, Ieq Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 160.1% during the second quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 165,035 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $10,366,000 after purchasing an additional 101,574 shares during the period. 86.44% of the stock is currently 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.