Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Morgan Stanley Analyst Says

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) had its price objective upped by equities research analysts at Morgan Stanley from $90.00 to $98.00 in a research note issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “overweight” rating on the pipeline company’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price objective points to a potential upside of 25.07% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on WMB. Scotiabank upped their price target on Williams Companies from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Zacks Research upgraded Williams Companies from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on Williams Companies from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 10th. TD Cowen raised their target price on Williams Companies from $81.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Williams Companies from $80.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 13th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $81.00.

Williams Companies Price Performance

WMB stock traded down $1.05 on Wednesday, reaching $78.36. 2,260,772 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,933,864. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $73.39 and a 200-day moving average of $67.09. Williams Companies has a twelve month low of $55.82 and a twelve month high of $80.07. The firm has a market cap of $95.72 billion, a PE ratio of 34.37, a P/E/G ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.73 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.10. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 18.34% and a net margin of 23.39%.The firm had revenue of $3.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.28 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.60 earnings per share. 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. As a group, equities analysts predict that Williams Companies will post 2.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.35, for a total value of $152,700.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 287,159 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,924,589.65. The trade was a 0.69% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO John Dean Porter sold 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 196,567 shares in the company, valued at $14,815,254.79. This represents a 20.28% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 117,869 shares of company stock worth $8,814,067 over the last ninety days. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Williams Companies

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Williams Companies by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 133,963,343 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $8,052,537,000 after buying an additional 883,245 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Williams Companies by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 67,981,106 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $4,086,344,000 after buying an additional 1,296,991 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in Williams Companies by 15.9% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 48,586,299 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $3,077,942,000 after buying an additional 6,668,950 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its holdings in Williams Companies by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 46,053,873 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $2,768,298,000 after buying an additional 2,100,164 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in Williams Companies by 11.0% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 33,572,067 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $2,018,017,000 after buying an additional 3,314,851 shares in the last quarter. 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.