Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) Stock Rating Raised to “Strong-Buy” at Barclays

Barclays upgraded shares of Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a report published on Thursday,Zacks reports.

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on the stock. Melius Research started coverage on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Tuesday, September 22nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $84.00 target price on the stock. Scotiabank decreased their target price on Williams Companies from $86.00 to $85.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 10th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Monday, September 21st. Wall Street Zen cut Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, August 8th. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $86.35.

Williams Companies Price Performance

WMB stock opened at $69.18 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $84.62 billion, a PE ratio of 27.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a current ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $72.21 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $73.17. Williams Companies has a 12-month low of $56.19 and a 12-month high of $80.07.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 3rd. The pipeline company reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 18.49% and a net margin of 25.17%.The company had revenue of $3.05 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.83 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.46 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.350-2.350 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Williams Companies will post 2.41 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 11th were paid a $0.5250 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 11th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.0%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 83.67%.

Insider Transactions at Williams Companies

In related news, SVP Terrance Wilson sold 13,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.87, for a total value of $973,310.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 268,159 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,077,064.33. This represents a 4.62% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Over the last three months, insiders sold 17,000 shares of company stock valued at $1,265,730. Corporate insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Williams Companies

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in WMB. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 67,981,106 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $4,086,344,000 after acquiring an additional 1,296,991 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the second quarter valued at $3,320,606,000. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 43.4% in the second quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 33,097,208 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $2,460,446,000 after buying an additional 10,013,946 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted 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 valued at $1,281,875,000 after buying an additional 3,748,126 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG grew its holdings in Williams Companies by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 20,036,698 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,204,406,000 after acquiring an additional 239,732 shares during the period. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Williams Companies

Williams Companies, Inc is an energy infrastructure company focused primarily on the gathering, processing, storage and transportation of natural gas and natural gas liquids. Through its extensive network of pipelines and related facilities, the company connects major U.S. producing regions with utilities, industrial customers, power generators and other energy markets.

Williams’ principal assets include the Transco interstate natural gas pipeline, which serves markets along the U.S. East Coast, as well as gathering and processing operations in regions such as the Appalachian Basin, the Rocky Mountains and the Western United States.