Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) Price Target Raised to $71.00 at Jefferies Financial Group

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) had its price objective raised by investment analysts at Jefferies Financial Group from $70.00 to $71.00 in a note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the pipeline company’s stock. Jefferies Financial Group’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 17.72% from the company’s current price.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $74.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 30th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price 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. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Williams Companies from $59.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Mizuho raised Williams Companies to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 27th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Williams Companies presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $68.29.

Williams Companies Trading Down 1.4%

WMB traded down $0.84 on Friday, hitting $60.31. 5,734,820 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,051,531. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.42. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $59.91 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $59.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $73.65 billion, a PE ratio of 31.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 0.64. Williams Companies has a 12 month low of $51.58 and a 12 month high of $65.55.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.53, for a total value of $242,120.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 302,645 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,319,101.85. The trade was a 1.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Williams Companies

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WMB. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Williams Companies during the 2nd quarter valued at $765,164,000. BROOKFIELD Corp ON increased its position in Williams Companies by 190.3% during the second quarter. BROOKFIELD Corp ON now owns 12,028,186 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $755,490,000 after acquiring an additional 7,884,730 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in Williams Companies by 15.9% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 48,586,299 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $3,077,942,000 after acquiring an additional 6,668,950 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its holdings in Williams Companies by 4,992.2% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 3,704,739 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $222,692,000 after acquiring an additional 3,631,986 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 27.3% during the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 14,417,821 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $905,583,000 after purchasing an additional 3,089,390 shares during the period. 86.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.