Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) Reaches New 1-Year High – Should You Buy?

Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB)’s share price reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $65.81 and last traded at $65.1850, with a volume of 296997 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $64.96.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on WMB shares. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 4th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $72.00 to $70.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on Williams Companies from $69.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 6th. Zacks Research lowered Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 6th. Finally, Tudor Pickering upgraded shares of Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 1st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $68.29.

Williams Companies Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $81.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.24, a PEG ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 0.64. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $60.67 and its two-hundred day moving average is $59.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73, a current ratio of 0.42 and a quick ratio of 0.36.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 3rd. The pipeline company reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by ($0.02). Williams Companies had a return on equity of 16.74% and a net margin of 20.61%.The business had revenue of $2.92 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.87 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.43 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. Williams Companies has set its FY 2025 guidance at 2.010-2.190 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The company 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. This is a boost from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 103.09%.

Insider Activity

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.90, for a total value of $123,800.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 297,545 shares in the company, valued at $18,418,035.50. The trade was a 0.67% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WMB. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Williams Companies during the second quarter worth about $765,164,000. BROOKFIELD Corp ON grew its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 190.3% during the 2nd quarter. BROOKFIELD Corp ON now owns 12,028,186 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $755,490,000 after buying an additional 7,884,730 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of 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 valued at $3,077,942,000 after purchasing an additional 6,668,950 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its position in shares of Williams Companies by 4,992.2% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 3,704,739 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $222,692,000 after acquiring an additional 3,631,986 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 27.3% during the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 14,417,821 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $905,583,000 after purchasing an additional 3,089,390 shares during the period. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.