Scotiabank Boosts Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) Price Target to $85.00

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) had its target price lifted by Scotiabank from $84.00 to $85.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “sector outperform” rating on the pipeline company’s stock. Scotiabank’s price target would suggest a potential upside of 18.01% from the company’s previous close.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently commented on WMB. Citigroup increased their price target on Williams Companies from $70.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Wall Street Zen cut Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, March 28th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on Williams Companies from $78.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. UBS Group lifted their price target on Williams Companies from $78.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Williams Companies from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $77.07.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

NYSE:WMB opened at $72.03 on Wednesday. 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 twelve month low of $51.58 and a twelve month high of $76.87. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $71.70 and its 200-day moving average price is $64.48. 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 (NYSE:WMB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 10th. The pipeline company reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.57 by ($0.02). Williams Companies had a net margin of 21.90% and a return on equity of 17.32%. The business had revenue of $3.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.10 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.47 EPS. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Williams Companies will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, 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 value of $143,500.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 289,159 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,747,158.25. This represents a 0.69% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Payvand Fazel sold 2,898 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.15, for a total value of $211,988.70. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 31,766 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,323,682.90. This represents a 8.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 53,369 shares of company stock worth $3,912,512 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Williams Companies

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in WMB. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the 4th quarter worth approximately $747,749,000. BROOKFIELD Corp ON raised its position in Williams Companies by 190.3% in the second quarter. BROOKFIELD Corp ON now owns 12,028,186 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $755,490,000 after purchasing an additional 7,884,730 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in Williams Companies by 15.9% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 48,586,299 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $3,077,942,000 after purchasing an additional 6,668,950 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its stake in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its stake in Williams Companies by 4,992.2% during the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 3,704,739 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $222,692,000 after purchasing an additional 3,631,986 shares in the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.