Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) Price Target Raised to $81.00

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) had its price objective raised by Jefferies Financial Group from $78.00 to $81.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the pipeline company’s stock.

WMB has been the subject of several other research reports. Zacks Research raised Williams Companies from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $71.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 11th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Monday, January 12th. Mizuho upgraded shares of Williams Companies to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 27th. Finally, Scotiabank upgraded Williams Companies from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $66.00 to $84.00 in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Williams Companies presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $75.36.

Williams Companies Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of WMB stock opened at $72.28 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83. Williams Companies has a fifty-two week low of $51.58 and a fifty-two week high of $73.04. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $63.57 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $61.15. The stock has a market cap of $88.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 0.65.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued its earnings results 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 business had revenue of $3.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.10 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.47 EPS. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Williams Companies will post 2.08 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 30th. Investors of record on Friday, March 13th will be issued a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. This is an increase from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 93.46%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 2nd. The shares were 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. The trade was a 0.68% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Towne Trust Company N.A boosted its stake in Williams Companies by 60.2% during the fourth quarter. Towne Trust Company N.A now owns 431 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 162 shares in the last quarter. Motiv8 Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Williams Companies in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Hartford Funds Management Co LLC bought a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the 2nd quarter valued at about $29,000. Clearstead Trust LLC grew its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 62.2% in the 4th quarter. Clearstead Trust LLC now owns 485 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 186 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kemnay Advisory Services Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.