Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) Raised to “Strong-Buy” at Wolfe Research

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) was upgraded by equities researchers at Wolfe Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently commented on WMB. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $78.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Williams Companies from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $82.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Williams Companies from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, April 5th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Williams Companies from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Finally, Truist Financial initiated 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. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $78.60.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:WMB opened at $71.08 on Tuesday. 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 company has a market cap of $86.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.21, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 0.63. Williams Companies has a 52 week low of $55.82 and a 52 week high of $76.87. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $73.02 and a 200 day moving average price of $65.48.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $3.20 billion during 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 quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.47 EPS. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. Research analysts predict that Williams Companies will post 2.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Williams Companies

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 27,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.92, for a total value of $1,968,840.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 293,159 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,377,154.28. This trade represents a 8.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 10,107 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.91, for a total transaction of $757,115.37. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 17,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,290,699.30. This trade represents a 36.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 53,369 shares of company stock valued at $3,912,512. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Brighton Jones LLC increased 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 worth $740,000 after purchasing an additional 3,969 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 5.5% during the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,635 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $291,000 after purchasing an additional 242 shares in the last quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina increased its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 568,928 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $35,734,000 after purchasing an additional 11,926 shares in the last quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC increased its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 3.0% during the 2nd quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 10,248 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $644,000 after purchasing an additional 296 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ieq Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 160.1% during the 2nd quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 165,035 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $10,366,000 after purchasing an additional 101,574 shares in the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.