Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) Given New $65.00 Price Target at The Goldman Sachs Group

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) had its target price boosted by The Goldman Sachs Group from $59.00 to $65.00 in a research note released on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a neutral rating on the pipeline company’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $63.00 price target on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Friday, September 19th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $66.00 price target for the company. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Williams Companies from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, September 26th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Williams Companies from $59.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, CIBC upgraded Williams Companies from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and set a $64.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, August 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $65.53.

Williams Companies Price Performance

NYSE WMB opened at $64.09 on Thursday. Williams Companies has a 52 week low of $47.52 and a 52 week high of $65.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $78.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.20, a PEG ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a quick ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $59.00 and a 200-day moving average price of $58.93.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.46 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.49 by ($0.03). Williams Companies had a net margin of 21.63% and a return on equity of 16.23%. The business had revenue of $2.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.90 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.43 EPS. Williams Companies’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Williams Companies has set its FY 2025 guidance at 2.010-2.190 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Williams Companies will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 12th were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 12th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 100.50%.

Insider Activity at Williams Companies

In other Williams Companies news, COO Larry C. Larsen sold 4,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.47, for a total value of $263,115.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 77,612 shares in the company, valued at $4,537,973.64. This represents a 5.48% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.62, for a total value of $115,240.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 311,645 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,956,984.90. The trade was a 0.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 8,500 shares of company stock valued at $497,715 over the last 90 days. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WMB. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $765,164,000. BROOKFIELD Corp ON boosted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 190.3% during the 2nd 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. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $335,419,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 45.0% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 11,339,078 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $677,623,000 after acquiring an additional 3,519,370 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its position 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 acquiring an additional 3,089,390 shares during the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Williams Companies

The Williams Companies, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an energy infrastructure company primarily in the United States. It operates through Transmission & Gulf of Mexico, Northeast G&P, West, and Gas & NGL Marketing Services segments. The Transmission & Gulf of Mexico segment comprises natural gas pipelines; Transco, Northwest pipeline, MountainWest, and related natural gas storage facilities; and natural gas gathering and processing, and crude oil production handling and transportation assets in the Gulf Coast region.