Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) Receives Average Recommendation of “Buy” from Brokerages

Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) has earned an average rating of “Buy” from the twenty ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, fourteen have given a buy recommendation and four have issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $82.40.

Several research firms recently commented on WMB. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “outperformer” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $82.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $78.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 10th. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Shares of WMB opened at $72.34 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $73.46 and a 200-day moving average price of $68.75. Williams Companies has a fifty-two week low of $55.82 and a fifty-two week high of $80.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $88.37 billion, a PE ratio of 31.73, a PEG ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.83.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.73 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $3.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.28 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 23.39% and a return on equity of 18.34%. The company’s revenue was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.60 EPS. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Williams Companies will post 2.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 12th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 92.11%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams Companies

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.35, for a total transaction of $152,700.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 287,159 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,924,589.65. This represents a 0.69% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Larry C. Larsen sold 12,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.48, for a total transaction of $917,760.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 98,219 shares in the company, valued at $7,511,789.12. The trade was a 10.89% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 71,398 shares of company stock worth $5,389,824 in the last three months. 0.47% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Towne Trust Company N.A increased its stake in Williams Companies by 60.2% during the 4th quarter. Towne Trust Company N.A now owns 431 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 162 shares in the last quarter. Main Street Group LTD acquired a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the first quarter worth $26,000. Motiv8 Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Clearstead Trust LLC increased its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 62.2% in the fourth quarter. Clearstead Trust LLC now owns 485 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 186 shares during the period. Finally, Kemnay Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

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.