Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) has received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty research firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have issued a hold recommendation, eleven have assigned a buy recommendation and three have issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $68.2857.

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $70.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 9th. Barclays lifted their target price on Williams Companies from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. Citigroup increased their price target on Williams Companies from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 13th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 4th.

Insider Transactions at Williams Companies

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 4,000 shares of the company’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 sale, the senior vice president owned 302,645 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,319,101.85. This represents a 1.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Williams Companies

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC lifted its stake in Williams Companies by 8.5% in the fourth quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 21,333 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,282,000 after buying an additional 1,680 shares during the period. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC increased its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 19.5% in the 4th quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 97,395 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $5,854,000 after acquiring an additional 15,862 shares in the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA increased its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 9.4% in the 4th quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 4,099,081 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $246,393,000 after acquiring an additional 352,449 shares in the last quarter. Inscription Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 6.6% during the 4th quarter. Inscription Capital LLC now owns 13,334 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $802,000 after acquiring an additional 829 shares during the period. Finally, Simon Quick Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Williams Companies by 43.1% during the fourth quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC now owns 98,066 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $5,895,000 after acquiring an additional 29,517 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Shares of WMB stock opened at $67.21 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $82.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.64, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a current ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $61.00 and its 200-day moving average price is $60.01. Williams Companies has a 12 month low of $51.58 and a 12 month high of $68.27.

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

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.1%. This is a boost from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 103.09%.

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.