Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the nineteen research firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $75.3571.

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on WMB. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Williams Companies from $69.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Tudor Pickering upgraded Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 1st. Citigroup raised their price target on Williams Companies from $70.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Mizuho upgraded Williams Companies to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Finally, UBS Group increased 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.

Insider Activity at Williams Companies

In other news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction on Monday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.39, for a total transaction of $132,780.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 293,545 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,488,452.55. The trade was a 0.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Williams Companies

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the fourth quarter worth about $747,749,000. BROOKFIELD Corp ON increased 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 raised its position in Williams Companies by 15.9% during 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 last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its stake in Williams Companies by 21.3% during the 4th quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 21,325,482 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,281,875,000 after acquiring an additional 3,748,126 shares during the period. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $222,692,000 after acquiring an additional 3,631,986 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of Williams Companies stock opened at $72.94 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 $89.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.09, a PEG ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 0.65. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $64.10 and its 200-day moving average price is $61.37. Williams Companies has a 52-week low of $51.58 and a 52-week high of $73.87.

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 net margin of 21.90% and a return on equity of 17.32%. The firm had revenue of $3.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.10 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.47 EPS. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Williams Companies will post 2.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

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

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.