Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) Price Target Raised to $81.00 at Jefferies Financial Group

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) had its target price lifted by Jefferies Financial Group from $78.00 to $81.00 in a research report report published on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the pipeline company’s stock.

A number of other brokerages have also recently weighed in on WMB. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $69.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Zacks Research raised Williams Companies from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on Williams Companies from $69.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. Mizuho upgraded Williams Companies to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on Williams Companies from $72.00 to $70.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. Two equities 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $75.36.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Shares of WMB stock opened at $71.87 on Tuesday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $63.10 and its 200 day moving average is $60.99. The company has a quick ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83. The stock has a market cap of $87.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.58, a PEG ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 0.65. Williams Companies has a twelve month low of $51.58 and a twelve month high of $73.04.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 10th. The pipeline company reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.57 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $3.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.10 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 21.90% and a return on equity of 17.32%. 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. Research analysts expect that Williams Companies will post 2.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be paid a $0.525 dividend. This is an increase from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 93.46%.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 2nd. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $19,488,452.55. This trade represents a 0.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Williams Companies

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of WMB. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 40.9% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 13,680 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $740,000 after purchasing an additional 3,969 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 5.5% in the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,635 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $291,000 after buying an additional 242 shares during the last quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. increased its holdings in Williams Companies by 13.2% during the second quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 5,711 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $359,000 after buying an additional 667 shares during the last quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Williams Companies by 33.9% during the second quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 4,615 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $267,000 after buying an additional 1,168 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. raised its position in Williams Companies by 57.1% in the second quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 30,859 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,938,000 after acquiring an additional 11,214 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting Williams Companies

Here are the key news stories impacting Williams Companies this week:

• Positive Sentiment: UBS raised its price target on WMB from $78 to $89 and reiterated a Buy rating, implying ~23.8% upside from the current price — a strong bullish signal that can attract buyers. Benzinga UBS Raise
• Positive Sentiment: Jefferies raised its price target from $78 to $81 and kept a Buy rating, implying ~12.7% upside — another analyst endorsement supporting further upside. Benzinga Jefferies Raise
• Positive Sentiment: Scotiabank upgraded WMB (coverage note) — additional brokerage upgrades increase the probability of fresh buying interest. AmericanBankingNews Upgrade
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst/Investor Day: WMB is guiding to a 10%+ CAGR in adjusted EBITDA through 2030 driven by power and transmission projects, and announced another behind‑the‑meter power project — a strategic growth thrust that supports higher longer‑term earnings power. ETF Trends Analyst Day
• Neutral Sentiment: Seeking Alpha published the investor-day slideshow — useful for investors wanting detail, but informational rather than market-moving by itself. Seeking Alpha Slideshow
• Neutral Sentiment: Media recap: InsiderMonkey noted WMB’s recent 8% weekly surge (Feb 6–13), highlighting recent momentum — reinforces that some of today’s move could be profit‑taking after that run. InsiderMonkey Recap
• Negative Sentiment: Intraday weakness and below-average volume: shares are retreating today after recent gains (volume ~6.8M vs. avg ~8.2M), suggesting short-term profit‑taking or absence of conviction despite the positive analyst headlines.

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.