Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) has earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty ratings firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $68.2143.

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Monday. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $70.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 2nd. Tudor Pickering raised shares of Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 1st. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Friday, October 17th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th.

Williams Companies Price Performance

NYSE WMB opened at $60.47 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $73.85 billion, a PE ratio of 31.17, a P/E/G ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.62. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $60.67 and its 200-day moving average price is $59.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.42. Williams Companies has a 52-week low of $51.58 and a 52-week high of $65.55.

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

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 12th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 103.09%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.53, for a total transaction of $242,120.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 302,645 shares in the company, valued at $18,319,101.85. The trade was a 1.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Williams Companies

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the second quarter worth $765,164,000. BROOKFIELD Corp ON increased its position in shares of Williams Companies by 190.3% in 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 period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in Williams Companies by 15.9% in 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 acquiring an additional 6,668,950 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in Williams Companies by 27.3% during the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 14,417,821 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $905,583,000 after acquiring an additional 3,089,390 shares during the period. Finally, Bahl & Gaynor Inc. grew its stake in Williams Companies by 34.0% during the 1st quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 11,287,921 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $674,566,000 after purchasing an additional 2,861,988 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

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.