Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) Receives $66.73 Average PT from Brokerages

Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) has received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the nineteen brokerages that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have issued a hold recommendation, twelve have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $66.7333.

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on WMB shares. Scotiabank raised their target price on Williams Companies from $59.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Zacks Research cut Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Friday, October 17th. UBS Group raised their target price on Williams Companies from $74.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 30th. Argus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $66.00 price target on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Thursday, August 14th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $63.00 price target on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Shares of WMB opened at $57.50 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $60.26 and its two-hundred day moving average is $59.32. The company has a market capitalization of $70.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.54. Williams Companies has a fifty-two week low of $51.46 and a fifty-two week high of $65.55.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its earnings results on Monday, August 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.46 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by ($0.03). Williams Companies had a net margin of 21.63% and a return on equity of 16.23%. The business had revenue of $2.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.90 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.43 earnings per share. Williams Companies’s revenue was up 19.0% on a year-over-year basis. Williams Companies has set its FY 2025 guidance at 2.010-2.190 EPS. Research analysts predict that Williams Companies will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 29th. Investors of record on Friday, September 12th were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 12th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.5%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 100.50%.

Insider Transactions at Williams Companies

In related news, COO Larry C. Larsen sold 4,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.47, for a total value of $263,115.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 77,612 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,537,973.64. This trade represents a 5.48% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.62, for a total transaction of $115,240.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 311,645 shares in the company, valued at $17,956,984.90. This represents a 0.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 8,500 shares of company stock worth $497,715 over the last ninety days. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Williams Companies by 1.5% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 133,075,340 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $8,358,462,000 after purchasing an additional 1,912,156 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in Williams Companies by 6.0% in the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 29,624,104 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,770,336,000 after purchasing an additional 1,680,477 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG raised its position in Williams Companies by 5.6% in the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 17,520,491 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,047,025,000 after purchasing an additional 932,998 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in Williams Companies by 0.4% in the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 15,291,842 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $913,840,000 after purchasing an additional 54,902 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its position in Williams Companies by 27.3% in 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 owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Williams Companies

The Williams Companies, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an energy infrastructure company primarily in the United States. It operates through Transmission & Gulf of Mexico, Northeast G&P, West, and Gas & NGL Marketing Services segments. The Transmission & Gulf of Mexico segment comprises natural gas pipelines; Transco, Northwest pipeline, MountainWest, and related natural gas storage facilities; and natural gas gathering and processing, and crude oil production handling and transportation assets in the Gulf Coast region.