Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) Upgraded by Wall Street Zen to Hold Rating

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Sunday.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Williams Companies from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price 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. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $78.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Truist Financial assumed coverage on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Tuesday, March 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $84.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $78.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Williams Companies currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $77.07.

Williams Companies Price Performance

NYSE:WMB opened at $72.03 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.53. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $71.84 and its 200 day simple moving average is $64.62. The company has a market cap of $87.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.66, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.63. Williams Companies has a 52-week low of $51.58 and a 52-week high of $76.87.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 company had revenue of $3.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 last year, the company posted $0.47 earnings per share. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Williams Companies will post 2.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Williams Companies

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Payvand Fazel sold 2,898 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.15, for a total transaction of $211,988.70. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 31,766 shares in the company, valued at $2,323,682.90. This trade represents a 8.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 10,107 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.91, for a total value of $757,115.37. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 17,230 shares in the company, valued at $1,290,699.30. The trade was a 36.97% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 53,369 shares of company stock valued at $3,912,512 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the fourth quarter valued at about $747,749,000. BROOKFIELD Corp ON grew 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 worth $755,490,000 after purchasing an additional 7,884,730 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 15.9% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 48,586,299 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $3,077,942,000 after purchasing an additional 6,668,950 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 21.3% during the fourth quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 21,325,482 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,281,875,000 after purchasing an additional 3,748,126 shares during the period. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC raised its position in shares of Williams Companies by 4,992.2% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 3,704,739 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $222,692,000 after buying an additional 3,631,986 shares in the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.