Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Buy” from Analysts

Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) has earned an average rating of “Buy” from the twenty brokerages that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $78.60.

WMB has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Citigroup raised their price objective on Williams Companies from $70.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Zacks Research upgraded Williams Companies from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Williams Companies from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, April 5th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $69.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $78.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 27,000 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.92, for a total value of $1,968,840.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 293,159 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,377,154.28. This trade represents a 8.43% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 10,107 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.91, for a total value of $757,115.37. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 17,230 shares in the company, valued at $1,290,699.30. This represents a 36.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 53,369 shares of company stock worth $3,912,512 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Williams Companies

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WMB. Cambient Family Office LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 15.2% during the 1st quarter. Cambient Family Office LLC now owns 6,550 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $477,000 after buying an additional 864 shares in the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 7.7% in the 1st quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 21,749 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,583,000 after acquiring an additional 1,563 shares in the last quarter. Pinnacle Wealth Management Advisory Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 10.2% during the 1st quarter. Pinnacle Wealth Management Advisory Group LLC now owns 9,501 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $692,000 after acquiring an additional 880 shares during the period. bLong Financial LLC bought a new position in Williams Companies during the first quarter worth $237,000. Finally, Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new position in Williams Companies during the first quarter worth $4,527,000. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Williams Companies Stock Down 0.5%

Shares of NYSE:WMB opened at $70.54 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $86.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a quick ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83. Williams Companies has a 12-month low of $55.82 and a 12-month high of $76.87. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $73.02 and a 200 day simple moving average of $65.44.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 10th. The pipeline company reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.57 by ($0.02). Williams Companies had a return on equity of 17.32% and a net margin of 21.90%.The company had revenue of $3.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.10 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.47 earnings per share. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. Analysts predict that Williams Companies will post 2.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 30th. Investors of record on Friday, March 13th were paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. This is a boost from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 13th. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is 98.13%.

Williams Companies Company Profile

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.