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

Shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the twenty ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $85.6667.

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $82.00 price objective on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, August 8th. Finally, UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th.

Insider Transactions at Williams Companies

In related news, SVP Terrance Wilson sold 13,000 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.87, for a total transaction of $973,310.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 268,159 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,077,064.33. This trade represents a 4.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders have sold 19,000 shares of company stock worth $1,414,050 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in WMB. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new stake in Williams Companies during the second quarter valued at about $3,320,606,000. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Williams Companies in the fourth quarter valued at about $747,749,000. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in Williams Companies by 43.4% in the second quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 33,097,208 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $2,460,446,000 after purchasing an additional 10,013,946 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the second quarter valued at about $596,077,000. Finally, Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP purchased a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the second quarter valued at about $500,305,000. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Williams Companies Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of WMB opened at $72.10 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $88.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.73, a PEG ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83, a current ratio of 0.48 and a quick ratio of 0.43. Williams Companies has a 1-year low of $56.19 and a 1-year high of $80.07. The company has a 50-day moving average of $73.05 and a 200 day moving average of $73.47.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued its earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The pipeline company reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50. Williams Companies had a net margin of 25.17% and a return on equity of 18.49%. The business had revenue of $3.05 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.83 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.46 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter 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, research analysts expect that Williams Companies will post 2.43 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

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

Williams Companies Company Profile

Williams Companies, Inc is an energy infrastructure company focused primarily on gathering, processing, transporting and storing natural gas and natural gas liquids. The company provides the infrastructure and related services that connect natural gas supplies with utilities, power generators, industrial customers, liquefied natural gas facilities and other markets.

Williams operates a large network of interstate and regional natural gas pipelines, gathering systems, processing facilities and storage assets across the United States.