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

Shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) have been assigned an average rating of “Buy” from the twenty ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $82.40.

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $81.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Williams Companies from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $82.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, April 20th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $80.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 13th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.35, for a total value of $152,700.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 287,159 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,924,589.65. This represents a 0.69% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Glen G. Jasek sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.15, for a total transaction of $195,375.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 54,101 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,227,993.15. This represents a 4.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 78,762 shares of company stock worth $5,937,632. Company insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Williams Companies

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of WMB. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,540,556 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $287,644,000 after acquiring an additional 134,777 shares in the last quarter. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH bought a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the 4th quarter worth $4,627,000. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp grew its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 3,344.8% in the 3rd quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp now owns 17,465 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,106,000 after acquiring an additional 16,958 shares in the last quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC grew its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 7.4% in the 4th quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 261,000 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $15,689,000 after acquiring an additional 17,900 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 21.0% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,105,570 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $125,839,000 after acquiring an additional 365,546 shares in the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Williams Companies Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of Williams Companies stock opened at $71.60 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $87.47 billion, a PE ratio of 31.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $73.50 and its 200 day moving average is $68.56. Williams Companies has a 1 year low of $55.82 and a 1 year high of $80.07.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $3.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.28 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 23.39% and a return on equity of 18.34%. The firm’s revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.60 EPS. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Williams Companies will post 2.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 12th will be issued 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 of this dividend is Friday, June 12th. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is presently 92.11%.

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.