Analysts Set Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) Price Target at $68.21

Shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) have earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty brokerages that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have issued a hold recommendation, eleven have given a buy recommendation and three have issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $68.2857.

WMB has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on Williams Companies from $70.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Williams Companies from $70.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. Mizuho raised Williams Companies to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Barclays lifted their price target on Williams Companies from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Monday, December 29th.

Williams Companies Price Performance

NYSE:WMB opened at $60.31 on Monday. Williams Companies has a 12-month low of $51.58 and a 12-month high of $65.55. The firm has a market cap of $73.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 0.64. The company’s 50-day moving average is $59.96 and its two-hundred day moving average is $59.67. The company has a current ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 3rd. The pipeline company reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $2.92 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.87 billion. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 16.74% and a net margin of 20.61%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.43 earnings per share. Williams Companies has set its FY 2025 guidance at 2.010-2.190 EPS. Research analysts expect that Williams Companies will post 2.08 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 12th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 12th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.3%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 103.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams Companies

In other news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.53, for a total transaction of $242,120.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 302,645 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,319,101.85. The trade was a 1.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WMB. Chapin Davis Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 1.6% during the second 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 boosted its holdings in Williams Companies by 2.6% in the second quarter. Wallace Advisory Group LLC now owns 7,031 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $420,000 after acquiring an additional 176 shares in the last quarter. LRI Investments LLC increased its position in Williams Companies by 8.8% during the 3rd quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 2,169 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $137,000 after purchasing an additional 176 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co. raised its holdings in Williams Companies by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 8,177 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $514,000 after purchasing an additional 179 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TrueWealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Williams Companies by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. TrueWealth Advisors LLC now owns 24,823 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,559,000 after purchasing an additional 182 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.