Stifel Nicolaus Increases Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) Price Target to $78.00

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) had its target price hoisted by research analysts at Stifel Nicolaus from $69.00 to $78.00 in a research note issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “buy” rating on the pipeline company’s stock. Stifel Nicolaus’ price objective would suggest a potential upside of 9.59% from the company’s previous close.

Several other analysts also recently issued reports on WMB. Zacks Research raised shares of Williams Companies from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $72.00 to $70.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. Mizuho upgraded shares of Williams Companies to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 27th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $71.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Finally, Tudor Pickering raised Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $71.67.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Shares of Williams Companies stock opened at $71.17 on Friday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $62.50 and a 200 day simple moving average of $60.70. Williams Companies has a one year low of $51.58 and a one year high of $72.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83, a current ratio of 0.53 and a quick ratio of 0.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $86.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.26, a PEG ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 0.65.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 10th. The pipeline company reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by ($0.02). Williams Companies had a net margin of 21.90% and a return on equity of 17.32%. The firm had revenue of $3.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.10 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.47 EPS. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Williams Companies will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction on Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.39, for a total transaction of $132,780.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 293,545 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,488,452.55. This trade represents a 0.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Williams Companies

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WMB. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Williams Companies by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 133,963,343 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $8,052,537,000 after acquiring an additional 883,245 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 15.9% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 48,586,299 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $3,077,942,000 after purchasing an additional 6,668,950 shares during the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 21.3% in the 4th quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 21,325,482 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,281,875,000 after purchasing an additional 3,748,126 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG lifted its stake in Williams Companies by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 20,036,698 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,204,406,000 after purchasing an additional 239,732 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in Williams Companies by 1.1% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 14,575,898 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $923,383,000 after purchasing an additional 158,077 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.