Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) Given New $82.00 Price Target at Royal Bank Of Canada

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) had its price objective boosted by Royal Bank Of Canada from $78.00 to $82.00 in a research report report published on Monday,Benzinga reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the pipeline company’s stock.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $78.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $78.00 to $89.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $70.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $80.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Williams Companies currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $77.33.

Williams Companies Trading Up 0.8%

NYSE:WMB opened at $72.59 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83. Williams Companies has a 12 month low of $51.58 and a 12 month high of $76.87. The company has a market cap of $88.67 billion, a PE ratio of 33.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $72.01 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $64.74.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 10th. The pipeline company reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by ($0.02). Williams Companies had a return on equity of 17.32% and a net margin of 21.90%.The company had revenue of $3.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.10 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.47 EPS. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Williams Companies will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 13th. This is a positive change from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is presently 98.13%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams Companies

In related news, SVP Todd J. Rinke sold 7,364 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.39, for a total value of $547,807.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 26,055 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,938,231.45. This represents a 22.04% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.75, for a total transaction of $143,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 289,159 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,747,158.25. This represents a 0.69% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 53,369 shares of company stock worth $3,912,512. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of WMB. Norges Bank bought a new position in Williams Companies in the 4th quarter worth $747,749,000. BROOKFIELD Corp ON boosted its holdings in Williams Companies by 190.3% in the 2nd quarter. BROOKFIELD Corp ON now owns 12,028,186 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $755,490,000 after buying an additional 7,884,730 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings 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 buying an additional 6,668,950 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its holdings in Williams Companies by 21.3% in the 4th quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 21,325,482 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,281,875,000 after buying an additional 3,748,126 shares during the period. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its holdings in Williams Companies by 4,992.2% in the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 3,704,739 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $222,692,000 after buying an additional 3,631,986 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Company Profile

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.