Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) Reaches New 52-Week High – Here’s What Happened

Shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $79.59 and last traded at $79.3180, with a volume of 8359458 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $77.69.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on WMB. Truist Financial began coverage on Williams Companies in a research note on Tuesday, March 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $84.00 price target for the company. Wolfe Research upgraded Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Wall Street Zen upgraded Williams Companies from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, April 5th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Williams Companies from $78.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Williams Companies from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $80.47.

Williams Companies Trading Up 2.1%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.83. The company has a 50 day moving average of $73.39 and a two-hundred day moving average of $67.09. The stock has a market cap of $96.89 billion, a PE ratio of 34.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 0.61.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.73 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.10. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 18.34% and a net margin of 23.39%.The company had revenue of $3.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.28 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.60 EPS. Williams Companies’s quarterly revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 12th. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is 92.11%.

Insider Activity at Williams Companies

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Glen G. Jasek sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.15, for a total transaction of $195,375.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 54,101 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,227,993.15. The trade was a 4.42% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO John Dean Porter sold 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.37, for a total value of $3,768,500.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 196,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,815,254.79. This trade represents a 20.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 117,869 shares of company stock worth $8,814,067 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Williams Companies

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of WMB. Towne Trust Company N.A increased its stake in Williams Companies by 60.2% during the 4th quarter. Towne Trust Company N.A now owns 431 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 162 shares in the last quarter. Main Street Group LTD purchased a new stake in Williams Companies during the 1st quarter worth approximately $26,000. Motiv8 Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Clearstead Trust LLC grew its position in shares of Williams Companies by 62.2% in the fourth quarter. Clearstead Trust LLC now owns 485 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 186 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kemnay Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.