Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) has been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the twenty ratings firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $77.00.

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Tudor Pickering upgraded Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 1st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $80.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 13th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $78.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $75.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 11th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction on Monday, March 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.24, for a total transaction of $150,480.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 291,159 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,906,803.16. The trade was a 0.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Payvand Fazel sold 2,898 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.15, for a total transaction of $211,988.70. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 31,766 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,323,682.90. This represents a 8.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 51,369 shares of company stock valued at $3,769,012 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Williams Companies

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WMB. Towne Trust Company N.A grew its stake in Williams Companies by 60.2% in the fourth quarter. Towne Trust Company N.A now owns 431 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 162 shares in the last quarter. Motiv8 Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the 4th quarter worth $27,000. Clearstead Trust LLC grew its position in shares of Williams Companies by 62.2% during the 4th quarter. Clearstead Trust LLC now owns 485 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 186 shares in the last quarter. Kemnay Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, First Command Advisory Services Inc. increased its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 216.8% during the fourth quarter. First Command Advisory Services Inc. now owns 491 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 336 shares during the period. 86.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Williams Companies Price Performance

NYSE:WMB opened at $73.57 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $70.92 and its 200 day moving average is $64.10. Williams Companies has a 12 month low of $51.58 and a 12 month high of $76.87. The company has a market capitalization of $89.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.38, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a current ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 10th. The pipeline company reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.10 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.47 EPS. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Williams Companies will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. This is an increase from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 98.13%.

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.